SEDS India

Coming up!!!

2010-02-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

SEDS INDIA NATIONAL CONFERENCE '10

2010-02-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

In 2007 , SEDS India hosted the international conference SEDSIC'07 in Vellore Institue of Technology.It was a huge success , we saw a participation of over 50 international delegates and 350 national delegates.

The theme of SEDSIC was ‘Developments in Aerospace through Astronomical considerations’.

Endorsed by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and sponsored by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Center (TNSTC), the International Space University (ISU) besides others, the conference met with wonderful success and acclaim. Students from allover India and the globe met at the VIT-U campus for three days of lectures, discussions, and activities. Water rockets, HAM radio demonstrations, guidance from ISRO scientists, and student business plans were just some of the activities. SEDSIC 2007 also marked a personal meeting of the international SEDS community in a generation and the initiation of greater activities within SEDS-India.

The success story continued with VITU again hosting the first ever SEDS-INDIA national conference in the year 2009.

With the theme of 'Vision for Indian Space Programme' , the conference saw the participation of more than 200 national participants.

The main attraction of the conference was the NATIONAL SMALL SATELLITE SYMPOSIUM' which provided a platform for students all over the country to discuss the progress and have their cubesat project analysed by a panel of great ISRO scientists.

This year we are continuing this trend and organising SINC'10.

The venue is VITU and the tentative dates are 3rd april 2010 and 4 th april 2010.

SEDS India Votes 2009

2009-04-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

A little more than 400 members will cast their vote between April 27 and May 1, 2009 to elect the next Executive Committee of SEDS India. There are 24 candidates in the fray for 6 top positions to which elections are being held.

The elections are being held using an online tool called BallotBin.

The election results will be declared on May 2, 2009 on the mailing list and on the blog. The new Executive Committee will take office on June 1, 2009. All the best to all the candidates and requesting all members to cast their ballot and choose!

SEDS India Elects 2009

2009-04-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

The annual Elections to the Executive Committee is scheduled to be held between April 27 and May 1, 2009. The online election procedure will use a free online election management tool called BallotBin. The following is the election procedure:

Each SEDS India member shall recieve a mail frm BallotBin asking them to following a link to caste their vote.
As you open the link, Candidate Names would appear under six categories for each of the six posts.
More information about each candidate can be obtained on the spot by checking the "bio" section.
Select your choice for each of the six posts and submit!
You shall recieve a confirmation of your successful vote through email.
Results shall be posted on the mailing list, SEDS India blog and website as soon as the polling ends on 1st MAY 2009.

The candidate profiles is posted online on our Election website. All members of SEDS India are encouraged to cast their ballot and decide the next Executive Committee of SEDS India.

First Indian Student and Spy Sat launched

2009-04-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw the first launch after the successful October 22 launch of Chandrayaan 1. PSLV C-12 carried the RISAT-2 with ANUSAT [PDF]for piggyback. Both satellites were launched from Sriharikota on the PSLV that took off at 6:45 am in the morning, local time on April 20, 2009 and were successfully placed in orbit by the PSLV on its fourteenth trip.

While the RISAT-2's end application is being questioned with ISRO slightly wary of the spysat tag, media houses across India celebrated the launch of India's first spy satellite, RISAT-2. RISAT-2 was acquired from the Israeli company with same specifications as its TecSAR satellite, which India's Antrix Corporation (ISRO's commercial arm) launched last year. RISAT-2 is believed to have been put on fast-track development following the Mumbai terror attacks and is believed to be helpful in keeping an eye on its borders. India had to earlier depend on US and Canadian satellites for such data. India is now one of the few countries (Japan, Canada, Germany, Israel and the US) to have such a capability.

The second satellite, ANUSAT, which piggybacked with the RISAT-2 is a story that is worth putting in the spotlight. It is India's first student-developed satellite. ANUSAT was developed by students and staff of India's pretigious Anna University. This satellite has been in development since 2003. The satellite worth Rs. 4 crores and weighing in at 40 kgs is hoped to be among the first of several student satellites that Indian universities are developing.

For SEDS, this is a great day. In February, during the SEDS India National Conference 2009, we hosted many of the teams that are building such microsatellites during the National Small Satellite Symposium (NS3). We hope that besides our own VITSAT-1, we get to see many of these teams launch their sats into space!

We congragulate the ANUSAT team for their success and for all their hard work in putting India's first student satellite in orbit. We also thank ISRO for encouraging such student-level development of satellites.

Elections to the Executive Committee of SEDS India

2009-04-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), India will conduct its national elections in April, 2009. The elections were to be held in February, 2009 but delays have caused the elections to be postponed to April 2009.

Elections will be to 6 offices or posts:

1. President

2. Vice President

3. Secretary

4. Treasurer

5. Joint Secretary (Events and Projects)

6. Joint Secretary (PR and Outreach)

The important election dates are as follows:

1. April 13: Nominations opens

2. April 18: Campaigning opens

3. April 21: Nominations close

4. April 24: Campaigning closes

5. April 26: Election Day

An Election Commissioner, Rasika V from the SEDS chapter at VIT has been selected to overlook the fair conduct of elections. Members of the current Executive Committee are not allowed to contest elections.

The results will be declared on or before April 30.

National Small Satellites Symposium - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:35:00.000-07:00

The National Small Satellite Symposium was held on 28 Feb and 1 march 2009 as a part of SEDS India National Conference (SINC’09). The symposium was a platform for all the university students’ satellite projects across the country to interact with each other and share their knowledge for mutual benefit. Teams from IIT Mumbai, SBMJ college, Bangalore and IIT Chennai and VITU participated in the symposium and gave a technical presentation of their projects in front of a panel consisting of experts in field of satellite technology. The symposium started with Dr. Geetha Manivasgam, co-convener of SINC’09 welcoming the reviewer panel. It was followed by a brief introduction of the satellite project of each team. Each team was asked to give an overview of their project aim, mission and work done till date. This concluded the first day of the symposium.

On the second day all the teams gave a 60 minutes technical presentation before the panel. The panel critically examined and reviewed the work done by each team and gave suggestion to solve the technical problems faced by them and improve the quality of work done. Mementos were given to every member of the panel by Prof Asokamani and Prof Natarajan as a token of gratitude. Finally a vote of thanks was presented with which the symposium concluded.

No of colleges participated:

1) IIT Bombay

2) Sri Bhagwan Mahavir Jain College Of Engg.

3) IIT Madras

4) VIT University

Reviewers Panel :

1) Dr. Raghava Murthy, Director Small System Satellites

2) Dr. Venugopalan, ISAC Banglore

3) Mr. A. Loganathan, ISAC Banglore

4) Mr. C. Prabhakaran, ISAC Banglore

5) Mr. V. Mahadevan, ISAC Banglore

We hope that even other colleges and universities hold such symposium inviting our members to participate and mutually share knowledge and experience in building satellite sub systems for small satellites. We also thank the Reviewers Panel for reviewing these projects and pointing out ways for participants' to solve technical difficulties.

Space-E-Mulate - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

SINC’09 not only had exhilarating guest lectures and informative workshops but also gripping competitions. SPACE-E-MULATE was one such event. It required participants to flex their gray cells, and prove that mathematics was indeed the language of physics. It gave them a platform to integrate mathematics and software, and hence simulate the common physical and natural phenomenon around us. Participants were free to choose either MATLAB, C or C++ as their programming platform and solve the questions which were based on basic concepts of physics. While four students participated individually, the remaining were in teams of two.

Winners:

1st prize :Rohan Sood and Ankit Agrawal (VITU)

2nd prize: Ankit and Navin (IIIT Hyderabad)

The event was judged by Prof. V. Ramesh and Prof. Prakash R. There were 4 teams from other universities while there were 17 teams from VIT. We hope this event also encourages similar events that aid in ground based image processing and other systems to get back images from future space missions to other planets and stars.

Redcomm 2.0 - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

REDCOMM 2.0 was an Armature Ham Radio Workshop conducted by the UPAGRAH AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, ISRO SATELLITE CENTRE during the SEDS India National Conference ‘09. The basic aim of this workshop was to give an exposure and also to teach the basics about the communication device HAM (Amateur) Radio.

The event was conducted by Dr. Subhramani and his colleagues.

The event started with a talk on the Introduction to HAM Amateur Radio by Dr. Subhramani. After this there was a presentation in which they showed us exactly how a text message or an image is transferred through a HAM radio. Te concept of transferring a message or a live image from outer space was very thrilling and enchanted the audience.

The most exciting part of the event came when they explained us about tracking of satellites. Using software known as orbitron they also tacked satellites like ‘International Space Station’ and also picosatellites like ‘cutesat.’

On the whole the event which ran for more than three hours, was a huge success and in the end the participants learnt the basics of a HAM amateur Radio, how to make it and to use it for novel purposes. There were about 120 participants in the event!

Hydro-Shuttle Competition - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

Hydro shuttle, an event under the ONESPACE (SEDS India's Outreach Programme) committee, was one of the most awaited events of SINC’09 as none other than the school students of 7th, 8th and 9th standard had to design a rocket and make it fly. The curious spectators included not only our dear chancellor, Prof Rao Tatavarti(our convener) but also honorary project head, Vikram Sarabhai Space centre(VSSC), Dr. A. Ramakrishnan. “I can see so many future pilots under one roof!”, quoted sir.

Hydro shuttle, as the name suggests depicts a ‘water rocket’ designed with the help of plastic bottles, plastic trash bags (for the parachute) cardboards, and the payload being a matchbox! The problem given to the participants was-the Rocket should fly as straight as possible and return its payload safely on earth. The schools which had participated in this competition were Srishti Vidyashram, VVNKM, Ida Scudder, Lakshmi garden, Sunbeam, with a minimum of 10 teams per school.(a workshop had been conducted in these schools by the student co-ordinators, prior to SINC’09. The event was judged by Mr. Rajan Babu

Winners

1st prize: Lakshmi Garden

2nd prize: VVNKM

It was a close competition with only a very few water rockets out of the 40 teams failing to rise. But, as the students said the inability only inspired them to design a better rocket and go higher. The faculty in charges mentioned repeatedly that it was a great exposure for the little kids, and they are looking forward to more such events. The student volunteers from VIT did a great job in handling the event and the schools. In the students language, the event Rocked! Overall, the event was a huge success.

Extraterrestrial Competition - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

Extra terrestrial was a paper presentation competition, under ONESPACE (SEDS India's Outreach Programme) held during SINC’09. Once again it was an endeavour to provide a platform for the school students, the budding scientists, to present their ideas. Extraterrestrial, just this one word is enough to trigger the imaginations of the young mind, with things like UFO’s, Aliens etc residing under this topic. It was impossible not to get awestruck by the beautiful ideas of the beautiful minds!

The participants had to present their ideas on colonisation outside earth, i.e. ‘space colonies’ a futuristic idea. They were judged on the basis of Innovativeness, presentations, feasibility and cost-effectiveness. They basically had to prepare a power point presentation, but verbal and poster presentation of ideas were also allowed. The schools which participated in this event were Srishti Vidyashram (both 1st and 2nd prize), Lakshmi Garden, Ida scudder, Sunbeam, with a minimum of 4-5 teams per school. They were given 10minutes to present and were subjected to questionnaires based on their presentation. At the end, the event coordinator explained the whole concept of extraterrestrial to the participants and the points where they were lacking.

Winners:

1st prize : Arun Raggavendra , Srishti Vidyalaya

2nd prize: Benjamin , Srishti Vidyalaya

After that Krishna Mohanty, Treasurer SEDS India gave thanks to the school faculties, students and the judges. She promised that SEDS will always organise events for the school students in future. It was again a great effort by ONE SPACE team in bringing out innovativeness among the school students and managing all the things. Respected Nambiraj sir accompanied the judge to the event.Budding professionalism could be easily figured out in all the participants.

Ideas including robots, the famous Stanley and Miller experiment, weather condition in Mars etc were presented. Their eagerness to contribute in the field of science and technology could be easily seen through their innovative ideas. In fact so eager was one student, that he prepared a stunning theory on colonisation in mars, during the event and showcased it as the last participant! They all seemed to believe in the famous saying-‘participation is to confidence where winning is to survival’, as there could be seen no disappointment.

Lunar Trek - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:15:00.000-07:00

The lunar trek event was held on 28th of February, the National Science Day, as a part of SEDS India National Conference [SINC ‘09]. The event involved a rover steering through an uneven terrain to drop the given rock sample at the pre-defined destinations, avoiding the provided obstacles. The rovers were tested for their design, maneuverability on uneven terrains, time utilization, weight of the design and the path chosen. Additional tasks were given to all the participants to test their design against some unseen forces and test their adaptability.

The event coming on the heels of the Rover Design Competition held in 2007 is a step ahead in a series of such events planned for the future. The event saw 5 teams from other universites while there were 20 teams from VIT itself. The event was judged by Dr. M. Khalid.

Winners : 1st prize: G.Charles raj, B. Rahul, V.Bhanu Kiran Reddy, B.Uday Kumar

2nd prize: Arun Agarwal, Ajit Kumar , Amit Kumar, Aditya Raj

The event saw 25 teams from various colleges fighting out with their rovers on the rugged lunar terrain for over four hours. While 18 of them could successfully complete the task, 12 teams have also completed the additional tasks too. 5 external colleges including SRMU, MLRIT Hyderabad, NIT Warangal participated in the competition. Albeit many designs were demonstrated successfully by the students on the track, we had to pick out only one winner. Scoring was done, using a pre-set formula which had taken all the factors into consideration. The winning team finished the entire task in mere 38 seconds, including the additional tasks, which is impressive because of the design’s balance between torque generated and the speed of the rover.

Galileoscope Telescope Workshop - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

With a staggering 160 registrations, this event aimed at giving details from the history of telescope to the telescopes empowered with cutting edge technology of today, including the first ever stellar photography session at the national level. Not only were the registrations that touched the 150+ mark, 153 of them showed up. The event took off exactly at 5pm with the BAS (Bangalore Astronomical Society) team headed by its vice-president Mr. Navin Nanjundappa. The BAS team showed their arsenal of telescopes ranging from small ones to big ones. The presentation carried out by Mr. Navin was so promising that everyone was glued to their seats with their eyes stuck on the screen. In between, there was a small question hour session and quiz to test the knowledge gained by the participants. Mr. Navin also taught as to how to take stellar pictures using digi-cams. He displayed an enthralling collection of pictures taken by him.

Following it was the observation session for which we assembled on the TT rooftop. Different objects were focused on and the curiosity to get a glimpse was quite evident on the face of the participants. A demonstration on taking a stellar photograph was also given. The BAS team was felicitated with mementos, given by the secretary of the conference, Mr. Snehal Deshpande. The response from the participants was overwhelming. The sheer reluctance to leave the arena was noticeable amidst the participants. The event was a huge success and all of them showed great enthusiasm in attending similar workshops in future.

The event ended up with everlasting footprints on the sands of time. You can read the Bangalore Astronomical Society's version of this event in this post. The event was the first SEDS celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

Cansat Competition - SEDS India National Conference 2009

2009-04-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

The cansat competition was held in India for the first time during the SEDS India National Conference. The initial plan of the competition was to deploy the cansats using helium balloons and then test their ability to maneuver and land as close to a designated point as possible. Due to the prevailing weather conditions at the time the launch using the helium baloons was not feasible due to the heavy winds hence it was decided to scale down the competition and check only the design, maneuverability and the time of flight of the cansats, while they were being deployed from atop a high-rise building in VIT university campus. Though the competition was a little dampened by the initial mishaps that occurred during the day it took a u turn and teams demonstrated the technical prowess of their cansats both in the terms of the designs and the aesthetics of the cansats.

Since such an event was happening for the first time we had only 2 participants from other universities while there were 27 teams from VIT. However, we hope that more students learn about cansats and come back again for future cansat competitions in the country. The event was judged by Prof. Rao Tatavarti.

Winners

1st prize: Aditya Raj, Arun Agarwal, Abhishek Pandey, Dhawal Seth (VITU) 2nd prize: Anshuman Acharya, Varanasi Arjun, Shankalp Mohanty, Devang Dabral

We would like to thank all participants and the judge. Our hearty congragulations to the winners. We do hope that next year, we can make the competition even better.

SEDS India National Conference 2009 - Paper Presentation

2009-04-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Nakshatra , the paper presentation competition was held in two sessions , one on February 28, 2009 and other on March 1, 2009. Over 35 abstracts were received from various colleges, out of which 21 were selected to present their paper in SINC’09. Nakshatra is Sanskrit for stars and we are hopeful that the participants will be the future stars who contribute greatly to the development of space sciences in the country.

The winners are:

Session 1:

1st prize: D Issac Rubil Prabu

2nd prize: Narayan Prasad, Sreekumar C., Prajawal S

Session 2

1st prize: Jame Vaalet

2nd prize: Karthik Balaji P.S.

The papers were judged by Prof. Natarajan and Prof. Richard Mondal who gave valuable inputs to the participants to help them in further improving their papers. The papers were evaluated on the basis of practicality , innovation , presentation and feasibility . A very interactive questioning session followed each presentation which made the event even more interesting.

We like to thank all participants for participating in the event - all 35 of them, at such short notice. We also congragulate the winners and thank the judges heartily for their inputs.

SEDS India National Conference 2009 - Talks

2009-04-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

It has been slightly delayed posting for an event that took place way back in the beginning of February, but some things did come up and prevented us from posting an update earlier. Here are the winners of the various competitions held under the SEDS India National Conference 2009 and summary of the various talks held on those two eventful days. We have already posted about some good press coverage that we got for our event and our project.

Talks -

Dr. T. G. K. Murthy, Programme Director, ISRO on "Remote Sensing Satellites": The talk was attended by more than 400 participants after which Dr. Murthy also interacted with university students and some school children.
Dr. K. N. Shankara, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre on "Future Possibilities in Space Technology Applications".
Dr. Raghav Murthy, Director, Small Satellite Systems on "Small Satellites and its Future Prospects". There were approximately 150 participants including various people who had started small satellite projects across the country.
Shri. S. Ramakrishnan, Director (Projects), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre gave a talk on "Chandrayaan 1". He showed us a video of the Moon's surface which was taken by the camera on board the space craft. We were not allowed to obtain a copy of the video because of restrictions placed on him.
Mr. Pallava Bagla, Scientific Editor, NDTV, gave a talk "Chandrayaan 1 to the People of India" where he covered his experiences of covering Chandrayaan 1 launch for NDTV.

We are happy to have had such a galaxy of speakers who shared several experiences with us. We are hopeful that we can bring more individuals working in various fields of space science and exploration together for the exchange of knowledge, encouragement to take up space science and work towards building India's space capabilities.

My days at SEDS

2009-04-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

In about a month or two, I will graduate from college and will head out to follow a career path that I hope will some day lead me to the door steps of ISRO. As one of the co-starters of SEDS in India, I thought you may be interested in sharing the journey of SEDS till date. My passion for outer space started way back when I was 13 years old and I have been smitten ever since. Despite the best efforts from several people, I have not been able to go off the path of space sciences. At age 17, sitting in an internet cafe, looking for a space organisation, the first one that came up was Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS).

I was able to find several amateur astronomy clubs in India but none that were dedicated to space engineering. I learnt however that some did exist but I seemed to have been not patient enough to find them. I shared my concern on the forums of SEDS and there was able to meet several people who convinced me that I can be the right person to start the Indian extension of SEDS. While I remained non-commital, I was introduced to Abhishek Ray who seems to have found out about SEDS in the same way and had expressed the same interest.

So, way back in late 2004 and early 2005, with a simple forums announcment, we got started with SEDS in India. We started off with perhaps 10 members or so. Even with such humble beginnings the dreams of two late teens clashed with what SEDS could be or do in India. We both felt that the ultimate thrill would be for ISRO to some day come to us looking for great leaders who could lead their projects and missions. What a thrill that would be!

Things did get difficult from there on and we had a lean patch where SEDS was not doing much and we were mostly co-ordinating and working towards an international SEDS organisation than building anything here in India. Throughout this phase of SEDS in India, I would like to specially point to the help provided by Kirk Kittell, then a Vice Chair at SEDS USA.

Enter Pranav Aggrawal and the chapter at Vellore Institute of Technology University. After failing with a two chapter model, we thought of putting all efforts into building one chapter properly that could then serve as an example for several other chapters across the country. By working on one chapter with effective results we thought that this could help people understand our work better and also aid forming chapters.

With this intention most of 2007 and 2008 was spent building up the chapter of SEDS at VIT University. This was an era of several wonderful conversations and idea storms that I shared with Pranav Aggrawal and we are still a bit sad that we were not able to implement many of the ideas that we did have. Perhaps, the SEDS International Conference 2007 hosted by VIT University was the time that SEDS in India stepped up and did what several people still reminiscense as a wonderful conference. There, for perhaps the first time, we brought to India, the Moon Rover Design Competition and water rocket competitions. It was a great joy for us to the wonderful turnout that we had and the grand success that the event was.

The event also got us attention to what SEDS was and as to the projects and events that we had done. At this point, we discovered that having a big successful chapter can also work in another way, to make new chapters worry about their success or failiure. In 2007, we began efforts to streamline the organisation, get it registered and to begin expanding to younger chapters.

Several innovative solutions were brought to the table by the founding Executive Committee members (Anmol Sharma, Snehal Deshpande, Krishna Mohanty, Ashish Aggrawal being the chief among them) and several others who worked with and under us during the period. We developed solutions that would I think help us in the future as the organisation grows and spreads across India.

An organisation that started with a dream has now got some very practical implementations for the way we work - the activities that we choose to do and the implementation of our projects. We hope we can continuously improve and be more effective than we have been. In 2009, Snehal Deshpande and Krishna Mohanty and others at the chapter in VITU, worked hard to bring to fruition the SEDS India National Conference (SINC 2009). Here too we brought the cansat competition for the first time in India, got all the small satellite developers from across India at a venue (thanks to ISRO and specially, Dr. Raghava Murthy for this), math modelling etc. We hope to do much better in 2010. There are many projects already planned and several that we are still brainstorming. For the new chapters, I hope this is a great opportunity and for VIT, perhaps a caution that we have only covered a small distance in the vast ocean.

To conclude, I would like to thank several people who have helped me in starting and getting SEDS up on its feet - Kirk Kittell, Pranav Aggrawal and Abhishek Ray. There have also been people that each of these individuals including me reached out to - brothers, friends, professors etc who have advised us and kept us going. I also hope that the future members of SEDS remember all these people who helped set up the organisation and worked hard to contribute to what it has become today.

Thanks for being a part of this journey and I hope that while I hand over this mantle to the next generation they will take SEDS to great heights and perhaps one day even to another planet or even another star :).

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

2009-04-06T01:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to SEDS VIT for winning "The Best Student Chapter Award" of VIT University, Vellore for the year 2008-09.

The Award was given on April 6, 2009 for the academic year 2008-09 on the occassion of University Day of VIT University. It was selected as the Best Student Chapter among all the student chapters functioning at VIT University. To refresh the memories, SEDS VIT won the same "The Best Student Chapter Award" for the academic year 2007-08 also.

Congratulations once again and Best wishes for coming years.

Cheers !!!

25th Anniversary of first Indian flight into space

2009-04-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

It was April 2nd, 1984 when first Indian went into space. Rakesh Sharma, then squadron leader and pilot with the Indian Air Force embarked on the historic mission in 1984 as part of a joint space program between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Soviet Intercosmos space program and spent eight days in space aboard the Salyut 7 space station. Launched along with two other Soviet cosmonauts aboard Soyuz T-11 on the 2 April 1984, was 35-year-old Rakesh Sharma. In a famous conversation, he was asked by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi how India looked from the space and he replied, Saare Jahan Se Achcha, (better than the whole world). He was conferred with the honour of Hero of Soviet Union upon his return from space. The Government of India conferred its highest gallantry award(during peace time), the Ashoka Chakra on him and the other two Russian members of his mission. He also practiced the "Zero Gravity Yoga" aboard the Salyut 7.

Lets spend this day on the occasion of silver anniversary of these great memories of first trip of an Indian into space.

Cheers !

Student built satellite to be launched into space

2009-03-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

On April 5 or 6, 2009, ISRO will launch the Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) on board the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Piggybacking with this satellite will be the first student built Indian satellite, ANUSAT.

Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT)

Considering that the major crop (Khariff) season is largely covered with clouds, thus debilitating data acquisition from electro-optical cameras on board IRS satellites, a Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) was taken up for development. The satellite equipped with a capability of imaging under day and night as well as cloudy conditions will become an important complementary system to the band of electro-optical sensors launched hitherto. With RISAT, the important applications like Khariff crop inventory, disaster management support – especially flood studies – will get a boost.

ANUSAT

ANUSAT, A micro-satellite designed and built by Anna University. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), sponsor of the project, would decide the launch of the micro-satellite.This collaboration is the first of its kind in India. Mr Rajaram Nagappa, a fellow MITian, former ISRO scientist and the Chief of Centre for Aerospace Research, MIT is the key interface person between the ISRO experts and the academic community. The control centre would be on the Madras Institute of Technology campus while three ground stations would be located in Bangalore, Guwahati and Pune.

This is a historic time for students in India and in the development and launch of small satellites in India. I hope you join me in wishing the ANUSAT team and ISRO all the best in the maiden launch of student satellite. We also hope that this is only the first among a series of small satellites coming from the student community in India.

SEDS CanSat in Newspapers

2009-03-20T02:29:00.000-07:00

The CanSat is a project of SEDS in India at VIT chapter. It is a small satellite of size of a cold drink can and the same will be its outer body.

Wishing all the best to the project and its members,
Cheers!

SEDS in Newspapers during conference SINC '09

2009-03-18T05:19:00.001-07:00

These are the scanned copies of newspapers which published news of SEDS and its conference SINC '09 held during Feb 28 - March 1, 2009. The conference was inaugurated by Mr. A Bhaskaranarayana, Scientific Secretary, ISRO and Mr. Rakesh Sharma - First Indian Cosmonaut.

Cheers for SEDS.

Participate in the 100 Hours of Astronomy

2009-03-13T02:01:00.000-07:00

One of the largest international astronomy events is 100 Hours of Astronomy slated to take place between April 2 - 5, 2009.

Here's the basics of the program

"The 100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project is a worldwide event consisting
of a wide range of public outreach activities, live science center, research
observatory webcasts and sidewalk astronomy events.One of the key goals of
100 Hours of Astronomy is to have as many people as possible look through a
telescope as Galileo did for the first time 400 years ago. 100 Hours of
Astronomy will take place from 2-5 April when the Moon goes from first
quarter to gibbous, good phases for early evening observing. Saturn will be
the other highlight of early evening observing events."

If you can't give up three days of your time - you can also participate in a one night International Star Party on April 4, 2009 (which is also accidentally or not the day Rakesh Sharma went into space in 1984).

SEDS strongly urges anyone interested even remotely in astronomy to organise and participate in the event. You can also register your event to make it a part of the series of events being held world wide and possibly interact with each other. 20 Days left!

ISRO/ASI conference on Low Cost Planetary Missions Conference

2009-02-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

The 8th Low Cost Planetary Missions Conference (LCPM8) will be held in Goa, India between August 31, 2009 and September 4, 2009.

The Conference is held by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) with the support of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on behalf of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

The programme of the conference includes:

1. Low Cost Planetary Missions: Science, Perspective and Challenges

2. National and Joint International Programmes in Planetary Exploration
3. Reduction and optimisation of the cost of Planetary Missions

4. Recent Low Cost Planetary Missions

5. New Results and Discoveries in the field of Planetary Exploration

6. Low Cost Missions currently in Definition or Development Phase

7. Science Instruments for Low Cost Missions

8. Utilisation of existing Mini Satellite buses for Planetary Exploration

9. Advanced Technologies for Future Low Cost Missions

10. Advanced Concepts for future Low Cost Solar Exploration missions

Here is the first announcement of opportunity to participate [PDF] in the conference.

The contact person for pre-registration is Dr. D Gowrisankar: lcpm2009@isro.gov.in

For further details on the conference:

1. Dr. J N Goswami - director@prl.res.in

2. Dr. M Y S Prasad - mys@shar.gov.in

Hope you can enjoy Goa and participate in this conference!

Economic Times News (Feb 13, 2009)

2009-02-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

This is a copy of news published in Economic Times of February 13, 2009.

SEDS members participated in Aero show at Bangalore last week. The students put an stall there in the event. The VIT SAT was represented at the stall by SEDS members. The stall and the project were appreciated by all.

Cheers to all SEDS members...

Lunar Eclipse: 9 February 2009

2009-02-09T05:44:00.000-08:00

Today is the day when the first penumbral lunar eclipse of the International Year of Astronomy. Read up all about it from our friends at Planetary Society, India, who have a very good report on the event. Please spread the word!

SINC '09 dignitaries

2009-02-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

A list of dignitaries who have agreed to be present for the conference (SINC '09) are:

Shri A. Bhaskaranarayana, Scientific Secretary, ISRO
Wg Cdr. Rakesh Sharma (Rtd.),The First Indian Cosmonaut in Space
Dr. T G K Murty, Programme Director and Outstanding Scientist, ISRO Headquarters
Dr. K N Shankara, Director, ISAC, ISRO
Dr. S. Ramakrishnan, Director (Projects), VSSC, ISRO
Dr. Raghava Murthy, Director, Small System Satellites, ISAC, ISRO
Dr. Bhanupant, Head, Materials Division, VSSC, ISRO
Dr. Pallava Bagla, Scientific Editor, NDTV(Covering ISRO's Chandrayaan mission)

This is besides the galaxy of technical events, workshops and symposia that will be held at SINC 2009. You can find details for all of them here at SINC Website (February 28th & March 1st)

Hope you all utilize the opportunity at the max...

SINC '09: Important Dates

2009-02-07T02:58:00.000-08:00

Please take note of the following dates to be assured that you do not face any kind of difficulties related to participating in the conference. Please send an email or call contact persons for any problems related to specific events as provided on the conference website.

10 February 2009: Deadline for abstract submission (with clear mention of topic) for Nakshatra.

10 February 2009: Awail lower registration fees for attending or participating in the conference, student or otherwise.

15 February 2009: Publication of list of selected abstracts on conference website.

20 February 2009: Submission of final papers for Nakshatra and last date for conference registration.

23 February 2009: Announcement of results of Nakshatra

28 February - March 1 2009: SEDS India National Conference 2009

Republic Day 2009

2009-01-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

SEDS India wishes a very Happy Republic Day and convey many many congratulations to Mr. Madhavan Nair (Chief of ISRO) for receiving PADMA VIBHUSHAN Award today.

Jai Hind.

Call for Papers and Participation: SEDS India National Conference 2009 (SINC ’09)

2009-01-10T09:21:00.001-08:00

Greetings!

Happy New Year and Happy International Year of Astronomy 2009.

SEDS India takes pleasure to announce its annual national conference, “SEDS India National Conference 2009 (SINC ’09)”. The Conference will be held at VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu on February 28 and March 1, 2009. The Conference is hosted by the SEDS chapter at VIT, SEDS-VIT. Theme of the Conference is: Vision of the Indian Space Program.

The objective of SINC ’09 will be to provide the students of pioneering engineering institutions of India a platform to enter the Indian Space Industry by encouraging them and providing them an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of prominent people associated with the field of space sciences and technology.

The Conference includes national level workshops, symposiums and other events.

The topics for Paper/Poster Presentation (Nakshatra) are:

Designing a payload for a satellite (Calpoly Standards)
Scientific experimentation of atmosphere
Developing a launch mechanism for small satellites
Designing of rail gun launchers for deep space exploration through extra terrestrial launch pads.
Future applications of space technology.
Satellite Technology

For more details about the conference,

Website : http://www.vit.ac.in/sinc09

Email : seds.sinc09@gmail.com

looking forward for your participation at SINC ’09.

- SEDS India and Team SINC ’09.

SEDS India National Conferecne 2009

2009-01-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

SEDS India would like to cordially invite you for its annual national conference, hosted by its chapter at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT University), SEDS-VIT.

Conference Details:
Venue: Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu - 632014
Date: February 28 - March 1, 2009
email: seds.sinc2009@gmail.com
website: http://www.vit.ac.in/sinc09 (requires Flash)

India: Space in 2008

2009-01-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

On November 21, 1963, a Nike-Apache rocket blasted off from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station at Thumba, Kerala. This event signalled the dawn of the Indian Space Programme. In 2003, India commemorated the 40th anniversary of the sounding rocket launch with a speech delivered by R Aravamudan, an adivsor to ISRO and a person who has been associated with the effort from much before the sounding rocket launch. The Indian Space Programme was picked out from a large talent pool within the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) by the father of the Indian Space Programme, Vikram Sarabhai.

Unlike many space programmes around the world, the Indian Space Programme progressed at a steady pace. In what can be called the Vikram Sarabhai decade stretching out from 1963 to 1973, the period was for vision, sowing the seeds of the programme, getting the key people together and setting up of various resources required for the development of these programmes. The second decade under the healm of Satish Dhawan from 1973 to 1983, India delineated the Space Programme, got Government approvals (ISRO became a government body in 1972 and was formed out of INCOSPAR). In this decade, India saw the launch of it's first satellite, Aryabhata in 1975 and also the development of the indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle by Abdul Kalam. Almost simultaneously, the USA applied sanctions against India on the export of dual-use technology to India. India was thus forced to look at indigenous solutions. Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), called the largest social space experiment in the world, also happened during this time. The third decade was under U R Rao (1983-1993), was a learning period of India. A period of sub-system and launch vehicle component development, testing out of the new launch vehicles (ASLV and PSLV) yielding significant data, setting up and operationalising of the remote sensing programmes, development of ground infrastructure and launch of operational satellites in geosynchronus and low earth orbits. It was in this decade, that India had its first Cosmonaut in Rakesh Sharma who famously said,"Saare jahan se acha, Hindustan hamara" (More beautiful than all lands on Earth is our nation, India). The fourth decade came up under Dr. Kasturirangan (1993-2003), saw rich returns for India's investments in the space programme. Successes with launches and launch vehicle technologies like the PSLV and GSLV ensured with an assured safety gave India the confidence to move ahead. It was around this time that ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix Corporation was setup. India began to provide launch facilites for international customers. The end of this decade was also when ISRO claimed in 1999 that it was ready for a journey to the moon and the root of Chandrayaan 1 lay. The programme was announced in 2003, giving ISRO the go-ahead for the programme.The current decade is under the healm of Madhavan Nair and is expected to stretch out till 2013. We're already seeing the boost of Indian space science missions along with other satellite missions of the INSAT and IRS classes. Astrosat is another space science mission expected in 2009-10 timeframe. The expansion of the space science programme is a wonderful thing to be a part of.
With this back ground, I think we can more realistically look at ISRO's successes in 2008. 2008's crowning glory for ISRO is India's maiden mission to the Moon (Video - requires Internet Explorer), Chandrayaan 1. The beautiful launch (Video - requires Internet Explorer) with monsoon clouds for a back drop, the thrilling sensation as the PSLV went into and burst out of a bank of clouds are perhaps the most wonderful images/videos to come from the Indian space programme. It happened on October 22, 2008. A little more than a fortnight later on the momentous occassion of Children's Day (the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru, the man who backed the initiation of the Indian space and nuclear programmes when India had just attained freedom), the Moon Impact Probe crash landed on the surface of the Moon, signalling India's presence there with a symbolic flag painted on all sides of the MIP. This heralded India's entry into the deep space missions category. Later in December, India completed the design phase of Chandrayaan II and announced that it would be on track to reach the lunar surface in 2012. Chandrayaan 1 also announced a low cost access to space by costing only $79 million, much of which was invested in technology and training that would aid future space missions of India.

Image: Chandrayaan 1 launch Credit: ISRO

In the launch vehicle section, the PSLV which also put Chandrayaan 1 in orbit, scored a success by placing 10 satellites in orbit. This was using only its core rockets and without using its strap-ons. The satellites, placed in orbit including the Indian CARTOSAT-2A and IMS-1 (Indian Mini Satellite) and eight foriegn payloads had to be done with great precision to ensure that satellites do not hit each other and are placed in appropriate orbits, as per requirements. This success in April 28, 2008, assured ISRO of the reliability and flexibility of the PSLV as a launch vehicle. There were also significant gains in the indigenous cryogenic rocket technology, which passed flight acceptance on December 18. The engine will fly with GSLV-D3.

In the commercial satellites section too it has been a great year. Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial arm started the year with a secret launch of Israel's millitary satellite. It's achievements also include the development of TECSAR and W2M. W2M, the more recent launch on 20 December, 2008, was built for the European telecom giant, Eutelsat. Built in an awesome 26 months for an amazing $80 million, ISRO managed to meet all deadlines set down by Eutelsat. The W2m also allowed India an opportunity to control the launch and early orbit phases of operations from its Master Control Facility, Hassan. In addition to these big commercial successes, Antrix also continued supporting the launch of nanosatellites.

ISRO also ended 2008 on a high note by announcing a slew of upcoming missions/partnerships. India announced that it would be on Mars by 2013 and said it had evolved missions for landing a space craft on an asteroid and a comet flyby missions. Many of the major announcements related to the Indian human space flight programme. The ISRO chief announced that any Indian who was healthy and physically fit can join up into what would be India's astronaut corps. It also announced a venture with Russian Roskosmos, where it said that India would use a re-modelled form of the Soyuz for its human space flight in 2015. India also announced a joint 2-manned mission with Russia ala Rakesh Sharma's flight with erstwhile USSR.

It has been a great and busy year for India and hopefully 2009 will see more missions,more scientific results, more social aid, more commercial benefits and more exciting missions. Wishing all of you a happy and prosperous 2009!

Happy New Year [IYA 2009]

2008-12-31T17:35:00.000-08:00

The Earth has completed one more revolution around The Sun and has started for the next. It is again going to be new January to new December in 2009.

SEDS India wishes you a very happy 2009 [The International Year of Astronomy].

Two Thousand Nine...
May you have Sunshine...

Citizens' Charter of Department of Space, India [2008 year end]

2008-12-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

Department of Space (DOS) has the primary responsibility of promoting development of space science, technology and applications towards achieving self reliance and assisting in all round development of the nation. With this end in view, DOS has evolved the following programmes:

Indian National Satellite (INSAT) programme for telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, developmental education, etc.

Remote Sensing programme for application of satellite imagery for various developmental purposes.

Indigenous capability for design and development of spacecraft and associated technologies for communications, resources survey and space sciences.

Design and development of launch vehicles with indigenous technology for access to space and orbiting INSAT, IRS spacecraft and space science missions.

Research and development in space sciences and technologies as well as application programme for national development.

The Department of Space is committed to:

Carrying out research and development in satellite and launch vehicle technology with a goal to achieve self reliance.

Provide national space infrastructure for telecommunication and broadcasting needs of the country.

Provide satellite services required for weather forecasting, monitoring, etc.

Provide satellite imagery required for the natural resources survey and security needs of the country.

Provide satellite imagery and specific products and services required for the application of space science and technology for developmental purposes to the Central Government, State Governments, Quasi Governmental Organisations, NGOs and the private sectors.
Undertake proof of concept demonstration of space applications.

Promote research and development in space sciences and development of applications programme.

While implementing the above objectives, DOS will:

Provide required satellite transponders and facilities to meet the communication, television broadcasting and security requirement of our country.

Provide adequate earth observation capability in multiple spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions.

Provide launch services to meet national requirements and commercial needs.

Provide its products and services in a prompt and efficient manner to all the users/clients.

45th Anniversary of first Indian Sounding Rocket Launch

2008-11-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

It was on November 21,1963, that a Nike-Apache rocket roared into the skies over Thumba that heralded the beginning of the Indian space program. It's 45th anniversary of launch of the Nike-Apache (The First Indian Sounding Rocket) today.

November 21, 1963 was a golden day in the Indian Space chronology, when rocket-based research in the country had formally begun. A two-stage sounding rocket, Nike Apache, imported from the United States was launched on that day, heralding the operationalisation of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). TERLS was established at Thumba because the geo-magnetic equator of earth passed over the very place. Hence Thumba was selected as the site for establishes a rocket station that would launch sounding rockets intended for meteorological and upper atmospheric research.

From then to now; India has risen up in Space Science and Technology. This year India has flagged on Moon with Chandrayaan-1 mission.

SEDS India wishes India to grow and rise to an unimagined height in coming years..

Indian flag on Moon

2008-11-15T06:32:00.000-08:00

In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat on November 14, 2008 with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST. This is the first Indian built object to reach the surface of the moon. The point of MIP’s impact was near the Moon’s South Polar Region.

Weighing 34 kg at the time of its launch onboard Chandrayaan-1, the box shaped MIP carried three instruments – a video imaging system, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer. The video imaging system was intended to take the pictures of the moon’s surface as MIP approached it. The radar altimeter was included to measure the rate of descent of the probe to the lunar surface. Such instruments are necessary for future lunar soft landing missions. And, the mass spectrometer was for studying the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.

MIP’s 25 minute journey to the lunar surface began with its separation from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at 20:06 hrs (8:06 pm) IST. This was followed by a series of automatic operations that began with the firing of its spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan-1. Later, the probe slowed down with the firing of its retro rocket and started its rapid descent towards the moon’s surface. Information from the its instruments was radioed to Chandrayaan-1 by MIP. The spacecraft recorded this in its onboard memory for later readout. Finally, the probe had a hard landing on the lunar surface that terminated its functioning.

Thus, India’s very first attempt to send a probe to the moon’s surface from its spacecraft orbiting the moon has been successfully concluded.

With the switching ON of two of Chandrayaan-1’s payloads – Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) – on its journey to moon and with MIP’s successful impact on the lunar surface today, it is planned to switch ON and test the remaining eight payloads of the spacecraft in the coming few days.

It may be recalled that Chandrayaan-1 was successfully launched by PSLV-C11 on October 22, 2008 from India’s spaceport at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota into its intended initial elliptical orbit around the Earth. Following this, the spacecraft’s orbit was raised in steps and it was made to pass near the moon by repeatedly firing its 440 Newton liquid engine. After Chandrayaan-1’s entry into its planned lunar orbit on November 8, 2008, the orbital height was reduced in steps to its intended operational altitude of 100 km from the lunar surface.

Since its launch, the health and orbit of Chandrayaan-1 is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore with critical support from antennas of Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu. IDSN antennas have also received the images and scientific information gathered by TMC, RADOM, and more recently, by MIP.

Chandrayaan-1 successfully reaches its operational lunar orbit

2008-11-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

Today, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has successfully reached its intended operational orbit at a height of about 100 km from the lunar surface. This followed a series of three orbit reduction manoeuvres conducted during the past three days by repeatedly firing the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine. As part of these manoeuvres, the engine was fired for a cumulative duration of about sixteen minutes. As a result of these manoeuvres, the farthest point of Chandrayaan-1’s orbit (aposelene) from the moon’s surface was first reduced from 7,502 km to 255 km and finally to 100 km while the nearest point (periselene) was reduced from 200 km to 182 km and finally to 100 km.

With this, the carefully planned complex sequence of operations to carry Chandrayaan-1 from its initial Earth orbit to its intended operational lunar orbit with the use of its liquid engine has been successfully completed. During these operations, Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine built by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has been fired a total of ten times successfully. In its present operational orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft takes about two hours to go round the moon once.

From this operational circular orbit of about 100 km height passing over the polar regions of the moon, it is intended to conduct chemical, mineralogical and photo geological mapping of the moon with Chandrayaan-1’s 11 scientific instruments (payloads). Two of those 11 payloads – Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) – have already been successfully switched ON. TMC has successfully taken the pictures of Earth and moon.

The next major event of Chandrayaan-1 mission planned in the coming days is the release of Moon Impact Probe (MIP) from the spacecraft and its eventual hitting of the moon’s surface.

It may be recalled that after its successful launch by PSLV-C11 on October 22 into an initial Earth orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft proceeded towards moon and successfully entered into an elliptical orbit around that celestial body on November 8, 2008. Since its launch, the spacecraft’s health and orbit have been continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) with critical support from antennas of Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu.

First Lunar Orbit Reduction Manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1

2008-11-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

The first orbit reduction manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft which is orbiting the moon, was successfully performed yesterday (November 9, 2008) night. As part of that manoeuvre which began at 20:03 IST, the 440 Newton liquid engine of the spacecraft was fired for about 57 seconds. With this, the nearest point of Chandrayaan-1’s orbit (periselene) from the moon’s surface was reduced from 504 km to 200 km while the farthest point (aposelene) remained unchanged at 7,502 km. In this elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about ten and a half hours to circle the moon once.

It may be recalled that the lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 was successfully performed on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft entered into an orbit around the moon with a periselene of 504 km and an aposelene of 7,502 km.

The health as well as the orbit of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is being closely monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with crucial support from Indian Deep Space Network antennas at Byalalu. The spacecraft performance is normal.

Further orbit reduction manoeuvres are scheduled in the coming days to take Chandrayaan-1 to its final operational orbit of 100 km height from the lunar surface. After this, the Moon Impact Probe, one of the eleven scientific instruments (payloads) of Chandrayaan-1, will be released to hit the moon’s surface.

Chandrayaan-1 successfully enters Lunar Orbit

2008-11-08T05:42:00.001-08:00

Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, entered lunar orbit today (November 8, 2008). This is the first time that an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth’s gravitational field and reached the moon. This historic event occurred following the firing of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s liquid engine at 16:51 IST for a duration of 817 seconds. The highly complex ‘lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre’ was performed from Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bangalore.

Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu supported the crucial task of transmitting commands and continuously monitoring this vital event with two dish antennas, one measuring 18 m and the other 32 m.

Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine was fired when the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the moon to reduce its velocity to enable lunar gravity to capture it into an orbit around the moon. The spacecraft is now orbiting the moon in an elliptical orbit that passes over the polar regions of the moon. The nearest point of this orbit (periselene) lies at a distance of about 504 km from the moon’s surface while the farthest point (aposelene) lies at about 7502 km. Chandrayaan-1 takes about 11 hours to go round the moon once in this orbit.

The performance of all the systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 is normal. In the coming days, the height of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s orbit around the moon will be carefully reduced in steps to achieve a final polar orbit of about 100 km height from the moon’s surface. Following this, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of the spacecraft will be released to hit the lunar surface. Later, the other scientific instruments will be turned ON sequentially leading to the normal phase of the mission.

It may be recalled that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched on October 22, 2008 by PSLV-C11 from India’s spaceport at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. As intended, PSLV placed the spacecraft in a highly oval shaped orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 22,860 km. In the past two weeks, the liquid engine of Chandrayaan-1 has been successfully fired five times at opportune moments to increase the apogee height, first to 37,900 km, then to 74,715 km, later to 164,600 km, after that to 267,000 km and finally to 380,000km, as planned. During this period, the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), one of the eleven payloads (scientific instruments) of the spacecraft, was successfully operated twice to take the pictures, first of the Earth, and then moon.

With today’s successful manoeuvre, India becomes the fifth country to send a spacecraft to Moon. The other countries, which have sent spacecraft to Moon, are the United States, former Soviet Union, Japan and China. Besides, the European Space Agency (ESA), a consortium of 17 countries, has also sent a spacecraft to moon.

Chandrayaan-1 enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory

2008-11-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully carried out on November 4, 2008 morning at 04:56 am IST. During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about two and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of about 380,000 km (three lac eighty thousand km).

The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu. Since its launch on October 22 by PSLV-C11, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft are performing normally. Chandrayaan-1 will approach the Moon on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.

Chandrayaan 1 - When will it reach the moon?

2008-10-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

Chandrayaan 1 will reach the moon through a series of Earth and lunar burns. It is expected to take about 15 days since the launch to reach the moon on November 8. Currently, Chandrayaan 1 is in an orbit with an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 2,67,000 kms and a perigee (closest point from Earth) of 465 kms. This is a highly eleptical orbit as can be seen from the mission sequence shown below.

Image: It shows the various elliptical orbits that Chandrayaan 1 takes as it goes closer and closer to the moon. Currently, Chandrayaan 1 is in an orbit really close to EBN 4. Courtesy: ISRO

You can view the orbit of Chandrayaan 1 using any orbital visualisation tool, if you feed the two line orbital elements of any space craft. The current two line element for Chandrayaan 1 reads:

CHANDRAYAAN-1            1 33405U 08052A   08304.99924557 -.00001620  00000-0  00000+0 0    74 2 33405  18.0795 351.8234 9494907 173.1090 116.9936  0.16996926    09

These are obtained from CELESTRAK/NORAD.

Stay tuned for more updates. The next Earth burn, raising the orbit to EBN-5 is expected on november 3.

Earth as seen from Chandrayaan 1's TMC

2008-10-31T21:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Chandrayaan 1 tested its on board Terrain Mapping Camera or TMC. The images below are the result of that test - the awesome views of Earth as seen by Chandrayaan 1.

The TMC has a resolution of 5 metres and a swath of 20 kms, which from 100 kms polar lunar orbit, is expected to take images of the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan 1 now in deep space

2008-10-26T03:57:00.000-07:00

Image: Chandrayaan 1's injection orbit, followed by the previous raised orbits with the current orbit and the engine firing point marked. Credit: ISRO.

In a rocket firing at 0748 hrs today morning, Chandrayaan 1's orbit was further raised to an apogee of 164600 kms and a perigee of 348 kms. You can now get to imagine the really elleptical orbit that Chandrayaan has been placed in.

Crossing the 150,000 kms mark, Chandrayaan 1 is now in deep space, a region where no Indian space craft has ventured and where Chandrayaan 1's operators will have to consider several forces acting on the space craft other than the Earth's gravity. Something ISTRAC has never done before.

Chandrayaan 1 will now be controlled primarily from the Deep Space Network, Byalalu, which was constructed especially for the realisation of the Chandrayaan 1 mission.

Chandrayaan 1 orbit raised further

2008-10-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

Today morning at 0548 hrs, Chandrayaan 1's orbit was raised to 74715 kms(apogee) and 336 kms (perigee). This orbit raising maneuvre was special since Chandrayaan 1 is now where no Indian space craft has ever gone before,beyond the distance of 36,000 kms limit that defines the geosynchronus orbits.

Image: The image shows the initial injection and the subsequent orbit raises performed by Chandrayaan 1. Credit: ISRO

The space craft is currently being tracked by both ISTRAC stations and the Deep Space Network at Bayalalu. After the orbit is raised further beyond 100,000 kms, the space craft will be controlled solely by the Deep SpaceNetwork.

Today's event is one of the minor milestones on the road to the moon. The next big event will be when the space craft will be tracked and operated solely from the controls at the Deep Space Network at Byalalu.

Congragulations to the Chandrayaan 1 team on this milestone and wishingall the best for the next one.

Source: ISRO Press Release

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft's orbit raised

2008-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

ISRO says :

The first orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was performed at 09:00 hrs Indian Standard Time (IST) this morning (October 23, 2008) when the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine was fired for about 18 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore. With this engine firing, Chandrayaan-1’s apogee has been raised to 37,900 km, while its perigee has been raised a little, to 305 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft takes about 11 hours to go round the Earth once.

Chandrayaan-1, India’s first spacecraft to Moon, was successfully launched by PSLV-C11 yesterday (October 22, 2008) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch vehicle placed Chandrayaan-1 in an elliptical orbit with a perigee (closest point to the earth) of 255 km and apogee (farthest point to earth) of 22,860 km. In this initial orbit, Chandrayaan-1 orbited the Earth once in about six and a half hours. Following its successful launch, the SCC acquired the first signals and conducted preliminary operations on Chandrayaan-1. The Deep Space Network (DSN) at Bylalu tracked the spacecraft in this orbit and received signals in S and X band and has sent commands to the spacecraft.

All systems onboard the spacecraft are functioning normally. Further orbit raising maneuvers are planned in the coming few days.

Chandrayaan-1 The Moon Mission

2008-10-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

In its fourteenth flight conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota this morning (October 22, 2008), the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C11, successfully launched the 1380 kg Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft into a transfer orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 22,860 km, inclined at an angle of 17.9 deg to the equator.

After a 52 hour count down, PSLV-C11 lifted off from the Second Launch Pad at SDSC SHAR at 06:22 Hrs Indian Standard Time (IST) with the ignition of the core first stage. The important flight events included the separation of the first stage, ignition of the second stage, separation of the payload fairing at about 116 km altitude after the vehicle had cleared the dense atmosphere, second stage separation, third stage ignition, third stage separation, fourth stage ignition and fourth stage cut-off.

PSLV-C11 is the uprated version of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its standard configuration. Weighing 320 tonnes at lift-off, the vehicle uses larger strap-on motors (PSOM-XL) to achieve higher payload capability. PSOM-XL uses 12 tonnes of solid propellants instead of 9 tonnes used in the earlier configuration of PSLV. PSLV is a four stage launch vehicle employing both solid and liquid propulsion stages. PSLV is the trusted workhorse launch Vehicle of ISRO. During 1993-2008 period, PSLV had fourteen launches of which thirteen (including today’s launch) are consecutively successful. PSLV has repeatedly proved its reliability and versatility by launching 30 spacecraft (14 Indian and 16 for international customers) into a variety of orbits so far.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, designed and developed PSLV. ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram developed the inertial systems. The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), also at Thiruvananthapuram, developed the liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of PSLV as well as reaction control systems. SDSC SHAR processed the solid propellant motors and carried out launch operations. ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) provided telemetry, tracking and command support.

Chandrayaan-1 is India’s first spacecraft mission beyond Earth’s orbit. It aims to further expand our knowledge about Earth’s only natural satellite – the moon. With well-defined objectives, Chandrayaan-1 mission intends to put an unmanned spacecraft into an orbit around the moon and to perform remote sensing of our nearest celestial neighbour for about two years using eleven scientific instruments built in India and five other countries.

The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-1 are:

To place an unmanned spacecraft in an orbit around the moon

To conduct mineralogical and chemical mapping of the lunar surface

To upgrade the technological base in the country

Chandrayaan-1 aims to achieve these well-defined objectives through high-resolution remote sensing of moon in the visible, near infrared, microwave and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. With this, preparation of a 3-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and chemical and mineralogical mapping of entire lunar surface is envisaged.

PSLV placed the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft into a highly elliptical Transfer Orbit (TO) around the earth. Later, through a series of highly complex manoeuvres, the desired trajectories will be achieved. After circling the Earth in its Transfer Orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will be taken into more elliptical ‘Extended Transfer Orbits’ by repeatedly firing its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in a pr-determined sequence. Subsequently, the LAM is again fired to make the spacecraft to travel to the vicinity of the moon.

When it reaches the vicinity of the Moon and passes at a few hundred kilometers from it, its LAM is fired again so that the spacecraft slows down sufficiently to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

Following this, the height of the spacecraft’s orbit around the moon is reduced in steps. After a careful and detailed observation of the orbit perturbations there, the orbital height of Chandrayaan-1 will be finally lowered to its intended 100 km height from the lunar surface. Moon Impact Probe will be ejected from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at the earliest opportunity to hit the lunar surface in a chosen area.

Later, cameras and other scientific instruments are turned ON and thoroughly tested. This leads to the operational phase of the mission. This phase lasts for about two years during which Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft explores the lunar surface with its array of instruments that includes cameras, spectrometers and SAR.

The Payloads: There are 11 payloads (scientific instruments) through which Chandrayaan-1 intends to achieve its scientific objectives.

They include five instruments designed and developed in India, three instruments from European Space Agency (one of which is developed jointly with India and the other with Indian contribution), one from Bulgaria and two from the United States.

The Indian payloads of Chandrayaan-1 are:

Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), a CCD camera that maps the topography of the moon, which helps in better understanding of the lunar evolution process.

Hyperspectral Imager (HySI), another CCD camera, is designed for mapping of the minerals on the lunar surface as well as for understanding the mineralogical composition of Moon’s interior.

Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) provides necessary data for accurately determining the height of lunar surface features.

High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) is designed to help explore the possibility of identifying Polar Regions covered by thick water-ice deposits as well as in identifying regions of high Uranium and Thorium concentrations.

Moon Impact Probe (MIP) demonstrates the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon. It is also intended to qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions.

The six international payloads of Chandrayaan-1 are:

Chandrayaan-1 Imaging X ray Spectrometer (C1XS), an ESA payload and jointly developed by Rutherford Appleton Laboratory of England and ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, intends is to carry out high quality mapping of the moon using X-ray fluorescence technique for finding the presnce of Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Iron and Titanium distributed over the surface of the Moon.

Smart Near Infrared Spectrometer (SIR-2), another ESA payload, developed by Max Plank Institute of Germany, aims to study the lunar surface to explore the mineral resources and the formation of its surface features.

Sub kiloelectronvolt Atom Reflecting Analyser (SAR), the third payload from ESA, is built by Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Space Physics Laboratory of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Tiruvananthapuram. The aim of this instrument is to study the surface composition of the moon and the magnetic anomalies associated with the surface of the moon.

Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM), a payload developed by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, aims to characterise the radiation environment in a region of space surrounding the moon.

Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) is one of the two scientific instruments from the USA and is from Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory and Naval Air Warfare Centre, USA through NASA. MiniSAR is mainly intended for detecting water ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles up to a depth of a few meters.

Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is an imaging spectrometer from Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the US through NASA, is intended to assess and map lunar mineral resources at high spatial and spectral resolution.

The Spacecraft: Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft weighed about 1380 kg at the time of its launch and is a 1.5 m cuboid with a solar panel projecting from one of its sides. The spacecraft is powered by a single solar panel generating electrical power of 700 W. A Lithium ion battery supplies power when the solar panel is not illuminated by the sun. To make Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft to travel towards the Moon, its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) is used. Liquid propellants needed for LAM as well as thrusters are stored onboard the spacecraft. Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s Dual Gimballed Antenna transmits the scientific data gathered by its eleven scientific instruments to Earth.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was built at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore with contributions from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) and ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Tiruvananthapuram, Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad and Laboratory for Electro-optic Systems (LEOS), Bangalore.

The Ground Segment: The Ground facilities of Chandrayaan-1 perform the important task of receiving the health information as well as the scientific data from the spacecraft. It also transmits the radio commands to be sent to the spacecraft during all the phases of its mission. Besides, it processes and stores the scientific data sent by Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) had a lead role in establishing the Ground Segment of Chandrayaan-1 with contributions from ISAC and SAC. The Ground Segment of Chandrayaan-1 consists of:

Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN)

Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC)

Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC)

The Indian Deep Space Network receives the data sent by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Besides, it sends commands to the spacecraft at a power level of upto 20 kilowatts. IDSN consists of two large parabolic antennas – one with 18 m diameter and the other 32 m diameter – at Byalalu, situated at a distance of about 35 km from Bangalore. Of these the 32 m antenna with its ‘seven mirror beam waveguide system’, was indigenously designed, developed, built, installed, tested and qualified. The 18 m antenna can support Chandrayaan-1 mission, but the 32m antenna can support spacecraft missions well beyond Moon.

The Spacecraft Control Centre, located near the ISTRAC campus at Peenya, North of Bangalore, is the focal point of all the operational activities of Chandrayaan-1 during all the phases of the mission.

The Indian Space Science Data Centre forms the third element of Chandrayaan-1 ground segment. Also located at Byalalu, ISSDC receives data from IDSN as well as other external stations that support Chandrayaan-1, stores, processes, archives, retrieves and distributes scientific data sent by Chandrayaan-1 payloads to the user agencies.

Chandrayaan 1 launched successfully

2008-10-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

!! CONGRATULATIONS !!

Chandrayaan-I, India's first unmanned moon mission satellite vehicle, successfully blasted off at 6.22 am on October 22, 2008, from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Blazing a bright orange plume, the 44-metre-tall 316-tonne PSLV started to move into its designated orbit within minutes, to launch Chandrayaan into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

From the GTO the satellite's onboard liquid apogee motor (LAM) will be fired to take it to the lunar orbit - 387,000 km from earth - around November 8.

Once the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan gets near the moon its speed will be reduced to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

At the earliest possible opportunity Chandrayaan will drop its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will land on the moon's soil carrying India's flag, among many scientific instruments. After that, the spacecraft will also activate its cameras and other instruments on board.

Chandrayaan will orbit the moon for two years. It carries 11 experimental payloads, five Indian and six from the European Space Agency (3), the US (2) and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1).

The spacecraft will orbit the moon, survey the surface of the moon with high resolution equipment to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and its three dimensional topography.

The goals of the mission will not only be confined to ISRO's capapbilities but to help resolve long standing questions about the Moon's history. India, so far, had not sent a satellite beyond earth's orbit and this will be the first mission to the Moon.

Chandrayan 2008 Video

2008-10-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Watch the video of planning of India's first Moon mission CHANDRAYAN 2008 made by ISRO.

to watch the video **click here**

Wishing All The Best for success of the mission.

chandrayaan - 1 [Images and Telecast]

2008-10-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

India's first Lunar mission CHANDRAYAAN - 1 is all set to launch on october 22nd morning. The launch will also be webcast between 0550 and 0650 hrs on October 22, 2008.

It will be launched from SHAR, Sriharikota by PSLV C11.
Wishing all the best for the success of mission.

Chandrrayaan - 1 Launch

2008-10-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

On October 22nd, 2008, India's first lunar space craft, Chandrayaan 1 will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

As per latest reports, Chandrayaan 1 will take 13 long days to skip across various orbits before it finally reaches a 100-km circular polar orbit around the moon. Chandrayaan 1 is hence called an orbiter (only a space craft orbiting Earth is called a satellite, other spacecrafts are referred to as orbiters - Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, being a good example).

The 504 kg(dry mass) orbiter will carry sufficient fuel for a 2 year mission on the moon where it will carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of minerals and elemental chemical species, and look for water ice in its polar regions.

Besides this, at the insistence of former President, A P J Abdul Kalam, the craft is carrying the Moon Impact Probe. This will crash land on the lunar surface and will be the first Indian probe on the moon. This will then send data on mineral and chemical data back to the mother craft.

The cost of the project which carries 11 instruments on board is an awesome INR 3.8 billion (estimates). The resulting data and improvement in technologies achieved from the mission will make it worth more than much more.

The mission offers much for students of science and technology and across many other fields.

Wishing all the best for success of The Mission.

Chandrayaan-1 set for October 22 launch

2008-10-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, there were media reports that Chandrayaan-1 is prepared for launch on October 22. SEDS has already sent our well wishes to the members of the Chandrayaan-1 team by signed posters and sent to the members.

We keep our fingers crossed and hope that Chandrayaan-1 is a great success!

PSLV-C7 mission team wins International Astronautical Academy of Astronautics

2008-10-05T03:12:00.000-07:00

From the press release -

The team from Indian Space Research Organisation which successfully realised the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) mission that launched CARTOSAT-2 as well as the team that deployed and recovered Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) have been awarded the prestigious Team Achievement Award of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). This Award was presented to the Teams on September 28, 2008 at Glasgow, Scotland, UK during the Academy Day organised as a part of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC).

The Team achievement Award was created by Board of Trustees of IAA in the year 2001 to recognise extraordinary performance and achievement by a team of Scientists, Engineers and Managers in the field of Astronautics to foster its peaceful and international use.

It may be recalled that in the tenth flight of PSLV conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, on January 10, 2007, PSLV-C7 successfully launched four satellites - India's CARTOSAT-2 and Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina's PEHUENSAT-1 - into a 635 km high polar orbit. SRE-1 was subsequently recovered successfully on January 22, 2007.

The PSLV-C7 team was led by Mr N Narayana Murthy, Project Director, PSLV-C7 and included Mr George Koshy, Vehicle Director, PSLV-C7, Cartosat-2 by Mr M Krishnaswamy, Programme Director, IRS, SRE-1 by Mr A Subramoniam and Ground support team by Mr S K Shivakumar, Director, ISTRAC. The overall co-ordination of the mission was by Mr P S Sastry, Director, LVPO at ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore.

The teams which were honoured in the past with this Award include Space Shuttle Team, Hubble Space Telescope Team, the Solar Satellite Mission SOHO Team and Mir Space Station Team. ISRO's SRE-1 and PSLV Team were chosen by the Board of Trustees of IAA in March 2008 on the recommendations of IAA's Awards Selection Committee.

--end of press release --

SEDS-India would like to extend our congragulations to the PSLV-C7 mission team. We hope that we soon see the realisation of the mission that SRE-1 was the basis for.

Celebrate World Space Week!

2008-10-05T02:58:00.000-07:00

The week from October 4, 2008 to October 10, 2008 is celebrated as World Space Week. On October 4, 1957, the USSR started the Space Age with the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik 1.

So, you want to celebrate World Space Week? The best way to do it is by learning more about what your space agency is doing and talk about it to as many people as possible. World Space Week is one oppertunity to help you realise how much space sciences has contributed to your life. Your seeing this on your computer today, partly because of contributions and requirements of space sciences.

We start you off with India's space agency - Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). You can read about them on their official website or on Wikipedia.

A small way to contribute to the celebration of World Space Week!

SEDS-JNTU Engineer's Day Celebrations

2008-09-22T01:14:00.000-07:00

As part of the Engineer's Day celebrations held at the chapter institute, the SEDS chapter organised a small satellite design competition using dummy models. We received a good response from the students here and also came out with some unique features for their models.

Given below are pictures of some of the participants taking part in the satellite design competition -

Posted by: Ashok Reddy, Secretary, SEDS-India and President, SEDS-JNTU

Chandrayaan 2 moon rover accepted

2008-09-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

The central cabinet has approved the Rs. 425 crore Chandrayaan - II project. We would like to congragulate the team at ISRO for this green light. They have also announced that Chandrayaan - I will be launched between October 19 and October 28.

In this regard, we would like to highlight the Moon Rover Design Competition that SEDS held in SEDSIC 2007 in collaboration with the American Astronautical Society. The conference was supported by the Indian Space Research Organisation. We are also happy that we inspired the Planetary Society, India to hold their own version of the competition among school students. We planned these events in preparing and inspiring students to take up the challenge of moon rover design and understand the principles involved in the same. We hope we have been successful in inspiring interest. Second edition of the Moon Rover Design Competition was held by UKSEDS during the UK Space Conference.

Happy Engineers' Day

2008-09-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

Today, the 15th of September is celebrated in India as Engineer's Day in honour of Sir M. Visvesvarayya, the eminent Statesman-Engineer.

On this occassion, SEDS-India would like to wish all aspiring and working engineers, Happy Engineer's Day.

Please take some time out and read about Sir M. Visvesvarayya and be inspired.

LHC - Indian contributions and best wishes

2008-09-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which came online yesterday has distinct Indian contributions. Right now, the collider plans to work on proving the existence of a particle called the Higgs Boson, which gives matter the property of mass.

1 in 10 scientists working on the LHC is of Indian origin. India's monetary contribution to the project is $25 million. The various Indian Institutes that are part of the experiment are -

1. Raja Ramana Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore.
2. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.
3. Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.
4. Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata.
5. Banaras Hindu University
6. Delhi University
7. University of Jaipur
8. University of Punjab

The LHC is also an IT experiment and India is a part of the world wide computational grid that will help analyse the data. The grid is made up of 100,000 computers across 15 countries. The Collider is expected to produce nearly 15 petabytes of data every year.

SEDS-India would like to wish all the scientists working on the Experiment all the best and hopes that at the end of it, we have a better idea about our Universe.

Chapter's Updates (August 2008)

2008-09-01T08:59:00.001-07:00

Posted by Anmol Sharma, Director for Chapter Affairs

SEDS VIT: The transfer of power successfully took place, the enthusiastic new committee is spearheading the space exploration mania unabridged for the 3rd year now, SEDS VIT CubeSat is finally taking complete shape in the form of the design report and the team is in touch with ISRO. Events have started and new member registrations are nearing completion.

SEDS NIT Suratkal: Troubled waters here as after the initial few events and star gazing sessions, the formal chapter/club recognition has not be conferred to SEDS on campus, in consultation with Shrisan the Chapter President, SEDS India's official invitation to the college authorities has been sent.

SEDS KCT: Young, vibrant and enthusiastic as the chapter is, they've made some pretty good progress as after the initial HAM workshop, the college's ECE dept. has granted SEDS the charge of running the HAM club. The chapter has also screened a documentary presentation on the Moon-landing hoax...for the starters, good work!

SEDS NITT: Formalities completed, the SEDS Chapter is all set to get running. The chapter has already getting clearance for the procurement of the telescope and astronomy equipment. SEDS events are planned to begin soon. DCA is waiting for an event plan for the chapter, which is under formulation.

National Children Science Congress

2008-08-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

National Children's Science Congress (NCSC) provides the children of 10 to 17 years from all over the country an unique opportunity to use their scientific temperament and knowledge to make their own dreams come true. The program was initiated in 1993, with the following objectives -

1. To provide a forum to the young scientists to pursue their natural curiosity and to quench their thirst for creativity by experimenting on open-ended problems;
2. To make you feel that science is all around and you can gain knowledge as well as solve many problems also be relating the learning process to the physical and social environment of the neighbourhood;
3. To encourage children throughout the country to visualise future of the nation and help building generation of sensitive, responsible citizens;
4. To stimulate scientific temperament and learning the scientific methodology for observation, collection of data, experiment analysis arriving at conclusions and presenting the findings.

Read the Congress' activity guide for 2008, which gives you an idea of the activities that you can participate in at the Congress. If you are interested, contact your State Co-ordinator.

9th PLANEX Workshop - Remote Sensing of Inner Solar System Objects

2008-08-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Physical Research Laboratory, the cradle of space sciences in India is hosting the 9th Workshop under the PLANEX programme (Planetary Sciences and Exploration Programme). From the pdf:

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has embarked on an exciting
planetary exploration program. Chandrayaan-1, the first Indian mission to Moon
will soon be launched and a number of future missions will follow. With the aim
of creating awareness amongst students and research scholars, particularly in
the Universities and other Laboratories and Academic Institutions and to attract
bright talented students to take up research work in the challenging area of
Planetary Science and Exploration, the PLANEX programme of ISRO has been
organizing periodic workshops and training programmes. The 9th Workshop in this
series is planned to be held during 5–9 January 2009 on the theme ‘Remote
Sensing of Inner Solar System Objects’ at the Department of Physics, University
of Rajasthan, Jaipur and Dr. Usha Chandra (E-mail:
chandra-usha@uniraj.ernet.in), will be the local contact person and co-convener.
• The Workshop will consist of lectures by experts, group discussions,
tutorials, presentations by participants and laboratory visits.
• Based on the performance at the Workshop, interested and highly motivated participants will be offered the opportunities for further intensive training in specialized fields in Planetary Sciences under the PLANEX programme.
Final year M.Sc. students in Physics, Chemistry and Earth/Planetary/Space Sciences, final year B.E./B.Tech./M.Tech. students as well as Research Scholars working towards their Ph.D. degree may apply. Applications from Post-Doctoral Fellows and Teachers/Lecturers (below 35 years) will also be considered.
Selected participants (about 35) will be provided travel support (Sleeper class by train or Bus), accommodation and boarding for the duration of the workshop.
Interested students/scholars may write or send e-mail to the following
address before 10 October 2008, enclosing a brief bio-data, research interests
(in ~200 words) and a reference letter from Department Head/Research Supervisor.
Those who have attended earlier PLANEX workshops are not eligible.
Contact Address:
Dr. V.K. Rai,
Convener, 9th PLANEX Workshop
Physical Research Laboratory,
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009
Phone: 079-26314160/09428731580
Fax: 079-26314900 E-mail: rai@prl.res.in

If you're interested in participating in this workshop, please contact the Convener at the contact address given above.

Antariksh - The Space-themed Art Contest

2008-08-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

We wrote about our initiative for space-themed art contest under the OneSpace Programme. I am happy to report that the event has been a huge success.

First of all, we wish to congragulate the Organizing Committee for the successful event as well as the winners of the individual contest.

Chief Coordinators
1. Snehal Deshpande (IV B. Tech. T. C. E., VIT) – Vice-President, SEDS India
2. Krishna Mohanty (IV B. Tech. I. T., VIT) – Treasurer, SEDS India
3. Mohsin Bin Latheef (IV B. Tech. Biotech., VIT) – Chief Secretary, TFAC

List of Events
1. Unveiling & Signing of Banner by Chancellor
2. DesignSpace (Poster Design Competition)
3. SandSpace (Sand Sculpture Competition)
4. WordSpace (Pictionary Competition)
5. Junkitecture (Junk Modeling Competition)
6. Space On Face (Face Painting Competition)

DesignSpace Winners
1st Prize – Harish B, Mahesh P (IDA Scudder School)
2nd Prize – Vignesh, Siddharth (Vani Vidhyalaya)

From VIT: Suchita, Pallavi, Neeraj

SandSpace Winners
School Students:
1st Prize – Priyanka, JeyaMary, Srija (St. Mary School)
2nd Prize – Vinodhini, Arun, Maithili (Shristhi School)
2nd Prize – Elango,Praveen,Suryaprakash (SunBeam School)

VIT Students:
1st Prize – Rakhtim, Rahul, Praveen

Space Trivia Winners
School Students:
1st Prize – Aleena, Hullan (IDA Scudder School)
2nd Prize – Gaurav, Akash (Navy Children School)

VIT Students:
1st Prize – Abhya, Siddharth
2nd Prize – Abhisek, Pinakesh

Junkitecture Winners
School Students:
1st Prize – Hrishikesh, Santhana Krishnan, Yashwin, Jeffrey (IDA Scudder School)
2nd Prize – Md. Niyammatullah, Rajashekar, Ajith, Chandramohan, Prasanth (SunBeam School)

VIT Students:
1st Prize: Vineet, Sameer, Anoorag
2nd Prize: Shasank, Sharmila, Ajitha

Space on Face Winners
School Students:
1st Prize –Anurag Singh, Ashish Sharma (Navy Children School)
2nd Prize – Neeti, Saurabh (Navy Children School)

VIT Students:
1st Prize – Avinash, Supriya
2nd Prize – Karunya, Pragyan

The Event was organised along with the The Fine Arts Club, VIT. If you'd like to know what each event was about, please read the full report (93 kb - .doc format) We'll try and post the event pictures as soon as possible.

SEDS India Video

2008-08-25T01:23:00.000-07:00

This is the video made by Ashish Agrawal, Director-SEDS India for multimedia presentation of SEDS India.

Enjoy watching it....

You can post in your comments/compliments also.
For more stuffs of mine go to my blog click here

To Watch the Same Video on Metacafe click here

...

SEDS International Conference 2007 Video (Pre-conference)

2008-08-25T00:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the video used for promotion for SEDS International Conference 2007 held at VIT University, Vellore (India) on 22-23 September, 2007.

SEDS India

2008-08-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

SEDS (Students for Exploration and Development of Space) was founded in 1980 at MIT, USA and Princeton University. Today it is spread in many countries across the globe. SEDS India is one of the national chapters of SEDS - Earth.

SEDS India is an independent, non-profit, student-based organization which promotes the exploration and development of space. SEDS pursues this mission by educating people about the benefits of space, by supporting a network of interested students, by providing an opportunity for members to develop their leadership skills, and inspiring people through our involvement in space-related projects. SEDS believes in a space-faring civilization and that focusing the enthusiasm of young people is the key to our future in space. One of its major objectives is to generate interest and help people in pursuing space oriented careers.

For this, SEDS India affiliates its chapters in colleges and clubs related to space science and technology. The major fields covered By SEDS are Astronomy, Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Aerospace etc. Various types of events are conducted by SEDS India like (1) Documentary Screening (2) Seminars and Lectures (3) Workshops (4) Projects (5) Trips (6) Competitions etc.
A complete exposure of the Space science and technology is provided and a platform is given for the members of SEDS India.

To join or to start a chapter in your college or club, logon to india.seds.org

SEDS International Conference 2008 - Registration and Programme

2008-08-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is from Max Beaumont of UKSEDS, who are organising this year's SEDS International Conference 2008:

The UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (
http://www.uk.seds.org/) is hosting the 3rd International SEDS Conference
(SEDSIC) on the 28th of September at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow. SEDS branches are situated all over the world and together represent a global network of like-minded people with a unified belief in the potential of Space.
The conference will consist of presentations from global SEDS branches on their history and current activities. It will also include presentations by key players in the
Space industry and by students involved in international Space-related
projects. There will be opportunities to network at a buffet lunch and an
evening event. To secure a place at SEDSIC please inform UKSEDS Education
Officer Max Beaumont (education@uk.seds.org) of your interest by the *15th
of September.*

For better clarity:

Event: SEDS International Conference 2008
When?: 28 September 2008
Where?: Scottish Exhibition Centre, Glasgow, UK
Register?: This is the form that you need to fill in (shared using Google Docs and Spreadsheets) and send it education at uk.seds.org before 15 September 2008. The form also contains the programme of the Conference.

After you send the form to Max, please also send a CC to pradeep at seds.org. This is to keep a copy of the people who are going for the Conference.

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

2008-08-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO has launched Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, IIST - the third institute of its kind in the world to produce the best scientists in Aerospace engineering to fulfill the forthcoming demands of Indian space programme on September 14, 2007 Trivandrum.

It offers undergraduates B. Tech programme in Avionics, Aerospace Engineering and five year integrated masters in Applied Sciences. IIST also offers post graduate and doctoral programmes to meet the requirements of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

The academic programme for the year 2007-2008 started in a full fledged alternate campus adjacent to the world renowned Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).

The student taking admission at IIST has to sign a bond that he will work with ISRO for five year after passing out from IIST.

So one can have good career in Space Science and Technology with IIST.

Chandrayaan (India's first mission to Moon)

2008-08-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

Chandrayaan: It is India's first mission to Moon designed and fabricated in India by ISRO. It is planned to be launched in later half of 2008 from SHAR, Sriharikota - Spaceport of India.

The Chandrayaan-1 mission is aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the moon in visible, near infrared(NIR), low energy X-rays and high-energy X-ray regions.

The Scientific Objectives will be -

* To prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both near and far side of the moon.
* To conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface.

Simultaneous photo geological and chemical mapping will enable identification of different geological units, which will test the early evolutionary history of the moon and help in determining the nature and stratigraphy of the lunar crust.

We wish all the Best for success of the Mission...

SEDS India School Outreach Initiative: OneSpace: Celebrating 39 years of ISRO!

2008-08-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Pooja Saseendran (II YEAR ECE) Yaman Singh (II YEAR EIE); OneSpace School Outreach Initiative

Antakariksh

OneSpace – an outreach programme under SEDS VIT, promotes space education to school students hence making them aware of the facts and latest trends pertaining to space science and technology. This programme not only invokes them but can also be a guiding light for their future – to take up space exploration as a career and a hobby. OneSpace is all set to conduct an event called “Antariksha” in which all members school students of OneSpace can participate and experience the wonders of space and science. This is scheduled to be held on 15th August 2008 –the 61st Independence Day of India to celebrate India’s 1st step to being a space super power. The main theme of this event will be the exciting and much awaited Chandrayan-I (India’s first mission to moon).

We plan to host a banner and so that we, the youth of this nation can get together as many goodwill messages for the Chandrayan Team and show our enthusiasm for India’s greatest venture into outer space. On this day there will be schools from Vellore, Vizag, Secunderabad and Bangalore participating in the various space art events like junkyard, logo design, Pictionary, sand art, face painting. This will be a one day event and will give an exposure to students to various creative ideas and also involve themselves in art clubbed with space and let their imagination fly high.

Addendum: 15 August is also the day in 1969 when ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) came into official existence. Till then, it had existed as INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee on Space Research) started in 1962 by the dynamic Vikram Sarabhai at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station in Thumba, Kerala.

SEDS VIT Anniversary

2008-04-04T05:50:00.000-07:00

It was in March 2006 that Pranav Aggrawal started the second SEDS chapter in India at the Vellore Institute of Technology. Over a period of two years since, it has already hosted the SEDS International Conference and has the honour of being the largest SEDS chapter in the world!

Happy Anniversary guys!

What SEDS India is about?

2007-12-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

This blog will soon be the place where the first Executive Committee of SEDS-India and representatives from chapters will share their experiences apart from regular news, updates and announcements. Before it begins, I thought of the kind of environment that SEDS-India would like to foster in its chapter and this is what I came up with.

SEDS is a place to experience, learn and have fun. Every time you prepare or wish to have a project or an event in your chapter, these can be used as yardsticks to measure your project/event.

Experience. SEDS fosters an atmosphere of openness and sharing. It is an experience where help is given freely. Good work is appreciated. Bad work is reprimanded and appropriate advise and help is provided. At the end, you have to learn something from your experience.

Learn. You need to learn something new at every project/event. You can learn some new technology, learn an alternate way of doing something, learn to help, learn to share, learn to organize etc. Learning should be constant and meaningful and fun.

Have Fun. You must do something only if you enjoy doing it. Doing something without having fun only results in half-hearted wok and that is not really the best effort that you can put in. If it is necessary to do something that you don't enjoy, do it with someone who enjoys doing it. Fun is infectitious.

Maybe the true environment that we foster in SEDS cannot be described very easily. I just tried to do my best. Hope I have done justice to the description.

First Call for Papers for SEDSIC 2007

2007-06-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

SEDS(Students for Exploration and Development of Space),student chapter at Vellore institute of technology university is all set to host SEDSIC'07(SEDS annual international conference) this September 22-23.This is the first time in the history of SEDS that an Indian university is being given an opportunity to conduct the event. The conference is endorsed by American Astronautial Society(AAS) and is the first of its kind in India.

The conference will include career talks and guidance from experts who have excelled in the field of astronomy and aerospace. Relax and explore the stars at the Star Party. The conference also includes a special demonstration of HAM by 'Upagrah Amateur Radio Club' from ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), India. A preliminary Design Review of SEDSAT-2, a remote sensing CUBESAT project undertaken by SEDS-EARTH is a part of the conference.

The conference also features a variety of student competitions intended to bring out the best of space zealots. An international level paper presentation and a rover design competition are two such events. The winner of the rover design competition will receive a half tuition scholarship to the International Space University (ISU). Students also compete to design and launch a model rocket propulsion system.

SEDS VITU henceforth calls for papers pertaining to the topics as put up in the website.The last day for students to send a letter of intent for the rover design competition is july 13^th.

.For further information regarding the topics for papers presentation, event details deadlines, please log on to :

http://earth.seds.org/sedsic

For regular updates regarding the events, join our mailing list at

http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/sedsic

For further queries and clarifications, please contact

sedsic@gmail.com