NASA has inked a deal to launch two scientific instruments on an Indian rocket bound for the moon within the next two years. Even space is being outsourced:
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The picture either means ‘satellite’ or ‘no head-in parking’ |
U.S. space agency NASA entered into an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday to send two scientific instruments on board Chandrayaan-I, the country’s first unmanned moon mission scheduled for 2008…[The U.S. instruments include] a mini synthetic aperture radar (miniSAR), developed by the agency’s applied physics laboratory and a moon mineralogy mapper, built by [NASA] Jet Propulsion Laboratory…
Chandrayaan-I will be launched from… Sriharikota on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh, using the new polar satellite launch vehicle… [Link]
The first payload will look for polar ice on the moon and the other will study the moon’s surface mineral composition. [Link]
NASA won’t be the only hitchhiker in the galaxy — the Europeans are also aboard:
… the Chandrayaan payload… will have 15-20 instruments, including 11 from India and three from the European Space Agency. [Link]
India’s own payload is a lunar surveyor:
The instruments will perform photo-geological mapping of the lunar surface apart from mineral content. [Link]
One of India’s rockets may be converted into an ICBM in the future. Does anyone else find it scary that, worldwide, weapons of mass destruction are under the control of anti-science yahoos who visit astrologers and think condoms are immoral?
India could convert its Polar Space Launch Vehicle into an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile within a year or two of a decision to do so, says a National Intelligence Estimate, representing a consensus of all US intelligence agencies, including the CIA… Most components needed for an ICBM are available from India’s indigenous space programme… [Link]India will soon develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a flight range of 9,000-12,000 km… The ICBM would probably be a three-stage ballistic missile with solid fuel rockets in the first and second stages, and a liquid propellant rocket in the third stage. [Link]
Interestingly, India’s dual-use space program doesn’t seem to get Uncle Sam’s chuddies in a twist the way that taikonauts do. China wants a space station and deeds to the moon:
China has begun construction of a rocket to carry astronauts into orbit in 2008 for its third manned space launch, state media reported Monday…. the mission probably would include a spacewalk and possible maneuvers meant to practice docking at a planned Chinese space station. [Link]China must overcome U.S. misgivings about the military nature of its space programMore than a decade ago, the United States thwarted efforts by China to join the 16-nation partnership that financed and built the international space station… China must overcome underlying U.S. misgivings about the military nature of its space program… [Link]
I wonder whether the Chandrayaan launch vehicle will be a new design (the chart above suggests it won’t be). First launches of new rocket technology tend to fail at a very high rate. In 2003, a Japanese rocket launch failed and its payloads were lost:
Japan’s beleaguered space programme suffered a blow [in Dec. 2003] when a rocket carrying two spy satellites was forced to self-destruct 10 minutes into flight. The satellites were to… keep tabs on the military machinations of neighbouring North Korea.Japan’s space programme “is in deep trouble” says John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in the US. “They’ve had too many failures of this rocket,” he says, referring to two botched launches in the late 1990s. [Link]
For exactly the same reason, NASA is reverting to an older, simpler capsule design for its space shuttle replacement. At least that’s what the SMU gathered from our resident NASA expert’s briefing on publicly-disclosed specs:
NASA is to design a new rocket based on the technology from its ageing shuttles that are to be retired in 2010… the new rocket would be “very Apollo-like, with updated technology. Think of it as Apollo on steroids.” But the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) will enable astronauts to spend four times longer on the moon than the Apollo astronauts. The new missions will spend up to one week on the moon. [Link]
The next U.S. moon landing is tentatively scheduled for 2018. Since the moon is so Summer of ‘69, Dubya’s new stated goal is to put a man on Mars. (The Venn intersection of those who believe ‘the moon landing was faked’ and ‘Kaavya is innocent’ is probably a perfect circle, the Nile of Denial.)
Recent plans to put an Indian astronaut aboard a NASA flight have been tabled, though desi American astronaut Sunita Williams née Pandya is already scheduled to fly:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Indian Space Research Organisation have shelved plans to train an Indian astronaut at NASA to be part of a manned mission of the American space shuttle… A total of 17 flights are planned, for which international agreements already exist, he said, adding no seats are available for the next four years. [Link]
India-U.S. canoodling in space dates back to even before the the Summer of Love:
Space cooperation between the two dates back to 1963 when an Indian atmospheric experiment was carried on a U.S.-made rocket. [Link]
Ironically, the launch site for which the U.S. signed the deal is still subject to American sanctions from the bad ol’ days of Indian nuke tests:
On Tuesday India’s space agency urged the US to lift sanctions on three of its operations to allow more high-tech imports… sanctions were still applied to its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in Kerala state, and the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh. [Link]
Historically, India innovated in military rockets, which were copied by the British and ended up in the American national anthem (‘And the rockets’ red glare / the bombs bursting in air…’)
The one thing I’m sure of when it comes to Indians in space is that the Restaurant at the End of the Universe will not serve cow, and it definitely won’t be out of tea.
Related posts: Will the U.S. participate in an India moon mission?, The Right Stuff, Malaysia’s first astronaut?, Space and Politics, The Final Frontier, “… is worth the risk of life”, How can a flag “blow” on the moon?, The Tao of Abhi
