Tag: Sriharikota High Altitude Range

An Open Letter to ISRO Chief K. Sivan on Promoting STEM Education in India

ISRO is a homegrown Indian success story often literally pushing against the edges of our universe, inspiring millions of people. But there’s room for it to do more.

ISRO is a homegrown Indian success story often literally pushing against the edges of our universe, inspiring millions of people. But there’s room for it to do more.

K. Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Source: Twitter

K. Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Source: Twitter

To
K. Sivan
Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation

As the premier research establishment in the country, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has done a great job of creating technological capacity in an area as critical as space. ISRO’s rockets, missions to the Moon and Mars and applications tailored to cater to the problems of humans and society are all laudable.

Today, there is a growing inequality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in India. In the 21st century, we need our children to learn certain skills and design-based learning to spur curiosity and innovation. There is also a conspicuous issue of lack of resources to invest in building teaching capacity and creating experiment-based hands-on learning environments at the grassroots level, and this affects the quality of graduates in India.

ISRO has been the most successful public-sector innovator in the country. It has a responsibility to foster the scientific temper in schools and colleges. While the organisation has been conducting several outreach-related initiatives, including competitions held at various ISRO centres, supporting student satellite missions, etc., there is no overarching roadmap towards nurturing STEM in India as such.

I take this opportunity to present to you a few areas where ISRO can provide a foundation to inspire millions of students across India.

Upgrading restricted access museums to open-access public laboratories

ISRO has museums in each of its major centres – such as the Satellite Assembly Centre (ISAC), the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), etc. However, access to these museums – excluding the one at the SAC – are restricted because they are within ISRO campuses (which have security protocols). So moving these museums into a restriction-free zone will allow the general public to visit them more often.

Such a template already exists in the country, with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited having created a museum in Bengaluru with access to various aircraft, helicopter and engine models, flight simulators, a mock air traffic control tower and an exhibit focusing on of India’s aviation history.

Also read: India’s space and nuclear labs are visibly lacking in outreach efforts

Another template is the ‘School Labs’ initiative taken up by the German Space Agency. It offers young people an opportunity to learn about its operations, the work of its scientists and experiments being conducted under various projects.

Such an initiative by ISRO in its various centres in the country will help inspire the next generation of scientists by showcasing its state-of-the-art equipment, often of the kind schools generally don’t have. A visit to such a lab could supplement classroom lessons and help translate theoretical knowledge to its practical counterpart. If school students become fascinated, it will surely make STEM disciplines more desirable among young people in the country.

A physical storefront at these labs, together with an online store, will also help: they could manufacture and sell low-cost models of rockets, satellites and other merchandise to spread the word on ISRO’s role in our society.

Social media engagement

One of the highlights of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MoM) in 2014 that caught the people’s imagination was the live social media outreach. There was even a conversation between members of the team responsible for NASA’s Curiosity rover and those from MoM that went viral. But today, the outreach seems limited to general announcements issued by the organisation.

Given the growing influence of social media on young people, we need to create a social media strategy for STEM outreach, and there is no better institution in the country than ISRO that can carry this baton forward. ISRO’s peers, such as NASA and ESA, have also set up dedicated television channels and YouTube playlists, apart from being active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., to promote space applications. I hope that under your leadership, ISRO will finally create an institutional strategy for outreach via the social media.

Viewing launches at SHAR

I recently had a chance to view a launch from the ISRO launchpad at Sriharikota. It was a splendid experience. However, the process of securing a viewer’s pass was anything but. In the time of ‘Digital India’, ISRO needs to consider providing access to view launches at the Sriharikota Range through an online booking system functioning on a first-come-first-served basis. This way, the burden on employees within ISRO (whom people approach for the passes) will be reduced; more importantly, people could also undergo a hassle-free online identity verification process to gain access.

Internships and doctoral programmes at ISRO centres

There are no standardised tracks at the moment to invite interns to work at ISRO, and undergraduate students trying for such opportunities from the outside find it very difficult to break through. Some forms of nepotism are also not unheard of; consider this answer to a question on Quora by an ISRO scientist: “Generally relatives of ISRO employees and/or the local students (same state in which the centre is situated) are preferred.” Formally soliciting applications via an institutionalised process can help provide equal opportunities to students around the country.

Similarly, one of the other problems that Indian higher education has been grappling with is the value and volume of doctoral research. While the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) does provide some opportunities, joint initiatives with premier academic institutes (such as the IITs, NITs, IISERs, IIMs, etc.) for PhDs with a focus on space can help to, among other things, create spin-offs, technology transfers, etc.

In sum, ISRO is a homegrown Indian success story often literally pushing against the edges of our universe, inspiring millions of people. So I hope that, under your leadership, it can expand its contributions to kindling more interest in STEM research in the country.

Narayan Prasad is a NewSpace enthusiast.

After Successful Test of Reusable Vehicle, ISRO Has Further Plans for Slashing Launch Costs

ISRO’s immediate priorities are to make its own launch vehicles more reliable, increase the payload they are able to carry and reduce the cost of their manufacturing.

ISRO’s immediate priorities are to make its own launch vehicles more reliable, increase the payload they are able to carry and reduce the cost of their manufacturing.

ANI images showing the solid-fuel booster lofting the RLV technology demonstrator before the descent begins. Source: ANI_news/Twitter

ANI images showing the solid-fuel booster lofting the RLV technology demonstrator before the descent phase begins. Source: ANI_news/Twitter

On Monday morning, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully flight tested its ‘Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator’ (RLV-TD) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. This winged craft, with its distinctive twin tail-fins, is intended as a key step toward the space agency’s goal of creating a reusable launch vehicle that could cut launch costs by as much as nine-tenths.

In the flight test, the RLV-TD was carried aloft by a rocket booster and reached an altitude of about 65 km. It then descended, reaching a peak velocity of five times the speed of sound, before landing in the Bay of Bengal about 13 minutes later. “The vehicle’s navigation, guidance and control system accurately steered the vehicle during this phase for safe descent,” an ISRO release said, and the craft successfully survived the “high temperatures of re-entry with the help of its Thermal Protection System.”

ISRO’s current conception for such a reusable launcher is to have a two-stage-to-orbit configuration. A winged first stage would incorporate an advanced air-breathing propulsion system that takes in air as it flies to burn the fuel carried onboard. This stage would take the second stage and payload high up into the atmosphere and, after separating from the latter, return to land on a runway.

The second stage would accelerate the payload the rest of the way using conventional rocket propulsion. Afterward, this second stage too would be brought back to the ground. However, such an advanced launch vehicle may materialise only “some 20 years from now”, according to K. Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, ISRO’s lead centre for launch-vehicle development.

But with SpaceX, the American spaceflight company started by entrepreneur Elon Musk, promising to achieve rocket reuse and bring about lower launch costs with existing technology, ISRO has some plans to ensure it remains competitive in the short-term as well.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with just two stages powered by liquid engines, has carried satellites into orbit and sent its Dragon capsule, loaded with cargo, to dock with the International Space Station. On three such flights, the rocket’s first stage, after separating from the second stage, fired its engines again and successfully made a controlled descent back to earth. On one occasion, it returned and made a vertical touchdown a short distance from the launch pad it had left a short time earlier. Then, in two recent flights, it landed on a drone ship stationed out in the ocean.

SpaceX intends to reuse the first stages that return but has yet to demonstrate this capability. The company’s president, Gwynne Shotwell has indicated that such reuse could lead to a 30% saving in costs.

Sivan made it clear that ISRO’s immediate priorities are to make its own launch vehicles more reliable, increase the payload they are able to carry and reduce the cost of their manufacturing. If the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which can launch a 2.2-tonne communications satellite, is able to carry a 3.5-tonne satellite, “the vehicle becomes more efficient,” he remarked. And with vehicle cost remaining unchanged, the cost per kg for the satellite it launches comes down.

In the case of the next generation GSLV Mk-III rocket, its payload capability could be increased from four tonnes to six tonnes. Then, substituting a semi-cryogenic engine, which is currently being developed, for the two Vikas liquid propellant engines in the rocket’s core booster could further raise its payload to 7.5 tonnes.

Vehicle costs could also be reduced. One measure being considered is to shift from maraging steel used for the big solid boosters that form the first stage of the PSLV and the GSLV to a cheaper steel, Sivan said.

In addition, ISRO was “very seriously” thinking of retrieving and reusing the core boosters of the GSLV and GSLV Mk-III in a SpaceX-like manner, according to him. The next generation Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle could also be designed with such reuse in mind.

The GSLV’s first stage, along with the four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters attached to it, account for almost three-fourths of the launch vehicle’s costs. “If we are able to recover and reuse [it], our reduction in cost will be maximum,” he said.

The GSLV’s payload would be halved if the the rocket’s first stage and strap-ons were manoeuvred back to the SDSC. However, the loss in payload would come to only about 80 kg if the stage soft-landed where it would naturally fall after separation. India could take advantage of the Andaman Islands and get the first stage to land there after equatorial launches from Sriharikota, Sivan remarked.

Gopal Raj is a science journalist based in Thiruvananthapuram. He has written extensively about the Indian space programme, including a book, Reach for the Stars: The Evolution of India’s Rocket Programme.