New rocket, plus moon and Venus missions, herald new beginnings for India

Context: The Indian government recently
signed off on numerous new projects, including work on a new rocket and new
moon and Venus missions. The space programme is thus on the cusp of important
new beginnings. India is also preparing to launch the NISAR and Proba-3
satellites and has received some good news from Astrosat. The private sector is
also working on satellite projects of its own. Four missions under the
‘Gaganyaan’ programme and four to test technologies for an Indian space station
have been approved. ISRO also added one uncrewed Gaganyaan mission. The Cabinet
approved ISRO’s development of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle for ₹8,240
crore. ISRO is expected to develop the vehicle with industry, so they can take
over for operational flights

Key
points

·       Overview: As part of an expansion of Space
Based Surveillance, ISRO will build 21 satellites and private companies will
build another 31, at a cost of ₹26,968 crore. ISRO built four satellites for
SBS-1 in 2001 and six for SBS-2 in 2013.

·       Chandrayaan-4 and LUPEX: Chandrayaan-4 will be a
sample-return mission. Its components will be launched on two separate LVM-3
launch vehicles; they will dock in earth orbit before going to the moon, and
land on the surface near the location of Chandrayaan 3.

The Space Commission also approved a
joint moon mission with Japan called the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission
(LUPEX).

Ø 
This
collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aims to explore the lunar surface and
search for subsurface water.

Ø 
ISRO
is developing the lander, while JAXA is responsible for the rover and launch
vehicle.

Ø 
The
mission will also carry instruments from NASA and the European Space Agency
(ESA), enhancing its scientific potential.

·       SBS and Axiom-4: It will help in better land and
maritime domain awareness for civilian and military applications. It will
involve the launch of at least 52 satellites in low earth orbit and
geostationary orbit for surveillance. The SBS mission is being handled by the
National Security Council Secretariat and Defence Space Agency under the
Ministry of Defence.

·       India’s space science: Scientists have found that the
crater where Chandrayaan-3 landed is older than the South Pole Aitken Basin,
itself 4.2-4.3 billion years old. This was based on data from the Optical
High-Resolution Camera onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and navigational
cameras on board Pragyaan, the Chandrayaan-3 rover.

·       Initiatives of the private sector: Manastu Space signed an agreement
with Dhruva Space to test its green propulsion technology to power the latter’s
Launching Expeditions for Aspiring Payloads (LEAP-3) mission. LEAP-3 will carry
payloads from different companies in 2025. Manastu is developing a green
propulsion system using a hydrogen-peroxide-based fuel.

Bellatrix Aerospace unveiled ‘Project
200’, a prototype for a satellite that can fly at an altitude of 200 km. a.k.a.
the ultra-low earth orbit.

Ananth Technologies became the first
private Indian company to assemble, integrate, and test two Space Docking
Experiment (SpaDEx) satellites for ISRO at the company’s facility in Bengaluru.