Capturing the GSLV disintegration

                              
                                                                Pix by Vijaykumar

        

        

                                                       Launch from Youtube

         On Christmas Day, just before 4 p.m., a group of employees of Madras Fertilisers at Manali in Chennai gathered on the grounds of their establishment with a sense of eager anticipation and excitement.

        Among them was 47-year-old star struck D.Vijaykumar, whose hobby is amateur astronomy.

        Why should all of them leave their work stations and assemble outside their offices? Any idea.To witness the lift off of the GSLV.

         As the moment was ticking away the feeling of excitement increased and as the mighty rocket shot into sight travelling in a yellowish plume of smoke, Vijaykumar instantly focussed his mobile camera on the spectacular launch and began clicking away every stage of what seemed to be then a grand take off carrying the heaviest indigenous satellite, the GSat-5P weighing 2310 kg.

         Speaking to ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)''  from Chennai on Tuesday night Vijaykumar said that his office is situated nearly 70 kms from Sriharikota. Despite the vast distance, he and his colleagues could easily observe the launch.

         Recalled Vijaykumar: ``As I was clicking away everything seemed to be going okay initially. But, suddenly I saw that the rocket was changing its trajectory. I felt totally at a loss and was disappointed because we felt that it will be super success. All of us were quite disappointed,'' he told BMM.

        Vijaykumar said that the historical pics will be a part of his personal collection. ``This was the first time I was photographing a rocket launch,'' he said, while pointing out that he has not taken a video. The superb and powerful pics were e mailed to BMM by its friend, Suhas Satam Naik of the Nehru Planetarium. Once again BMM thanks Suhas for the pics.

        A few hours later on Tuesday my friend, Pradeep Mohandas, mailed a video of the GSLV launch and its disintegration taken by another amateur cameraman from the terrace---may be that of Brahm Prakash Hall--of a building at Sriharikota  BMM feels that it could be from Brahm Prakash Hall because it could identify the water tank from where it has stood all these years and covered launches including that of Chandrayaan-1 on October 22,2008.

       Thanks Pradeep because this is one of the best videos BMM has ever seen taken by an amateur cameraman of a rocket launch. The clip clearly shows that emotions of the huge crowd, the excitement and thrill sparked by the grand lift off--all the shouting and screaming. This mood of celebration soon gives way to a tremendous sense of disappointment as the rocket disintegrates and falls into the Bay of Bengal. This is clearly brought out in the video.

       BMM has a number of CDs and DVDs of the Chandrayaan launch.

       Undoubtedly, the best are those taken by the amateurs.


   ends

      
  

Who is conducting the GSLV probe----Isro or the media?

       On Monday evening, ``Beyond Moon and Mars,'' accompanied by secretary of India chapter of Moon Society, Pradeep Mohandas, visited the Nehru Planetarium at Worli with a different aim---neither to listen to a talk nor watch an astronomy show. The purpose was to discuss the unfortunate Christmas Day failure of the GSLV which has hit international headlines.

       But why the Nehru Planetarium? The reason is outside this beautiful centre--a great landmark of Mumbai--there is a huge model of the GSLV donated by Isro. BMM, therefore, felt it would be best to ponder over the possible causes of the crash with the model of the rocket right in front of us.

       BMM being not a techie, therefore. felt it would be good to have a person with an engineering background. Who else but Pradeep in this case? The guy who came all the way from Chedda Nagar where he stays, near Chembur, did his best to explain the causes of the disaster by pointing towards the model. And since it was a weekly holiday at the planetarium, we managed to access the spot close to the rocket thanks to my good friend Suhas Satam Naik of the planetarium. Thank you Suhas.

       With the rocket close to us, we wondered who was conducting the initial probe of the mishap---Isro or the media? Minutes after the disaster, the electronic and print media as well as some of the internet sites have been flooded with speculative reports about the reasons behind the crash.

        While Isro chief, K.Radhakrishnan, announced that the possible cause could be snapping of four chords between the rocket's equipment bay and the first stage, journalists have been tracking Isro scientists who have been coming out with their own theories. These scientists, moreoever, do not want to be named because of a gag order by Radhakrishnan. Satish told BMM that as of now the cause of chords snapping will be investigated.

        One of the reports suggested a structural error because of the heavy weight of the satellite and today Pradeep's friend, an aerorspace engineer, pooh poohed the report. Whom are we to believe? Why cannot we wait for the actual official report to be released which will have credibility. Pradeep incidentally was inclined to believe that the structural error theory could be plausible.

        Remember, Isro has a huge staff strength of nearly 14,000. In such a large organisation internal disputes and rivalries among the employees is something inevitable. So let the media not be used by one set of employees to settle scores with the others using the GSLV disaster.

        This problem has arisen because even in the previous case relating to the GSLV failure on April 15,2010, Isro only released half the report through a press release. In this case, BMM feels that the full document should be hosted on Isro's website unedited. Even the damning comments and remarks should be made public as it happens with the case of Nasa and Arianespace.

         About Chandrayaan-2 Isro seems confident that it will fly in GSLV Mark 2 with an indigenous cryogenic engine. BMM hopes that its optimism does not prove baseless at the end.

         If it does not what are the choices--either delay the launch till the GSLV finally proves it is really reliable. Alternatively, explore the possibility of depending upon a foreign launcher.

         But, let us wait for the official report. Let the media consisting of  journalists, not scientifically qualified not play the role of investigators atleast in this case.

         May the new year bring luck to Isro.



      

For Isro a White Christmas turned into a Black Christmas

       On Saturday afternoon, the scene repeated itself in the room of ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM).

       It  did what it did on April 15,2010.

       BMM placed its brass model of the GSLV (Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), on the dressing table, sat next to it, switched on the TV and surfed various channels to watch the live telecast of the much awaited GSLV launch.

      Around 3.30 p.m. secretary of India chapter of Moon Society, the ever helpful, Pradeep Mohandas, called to say that DD National was telecasting the life of the father of the Indian nuclear bomb, Raja Ramanna, in which the eminent scientist explained why India had to go nuclear. Was there a connection?

      At 3.45 p.m. sharp, the telecast started when the countdown had reached Mark-22 minutes to lift off. This means there was 22 minutes left for the three-stage GSLV carrying the heaviest India-made communication satellite, the 2310 kg GSat-5P, This exciting mission had a three-fold significance:-

      *For the first time an India-made rocket was carrying the heaviest satellite.
      *For the first time the length of the rocket itself was lengthened from 49 metres to 51 metres.
      *For the first time fuel mass of the Russia-made cryogenic engine was raised from 12.5 tonnes to 15.3 tonnes.
       So it had many firsts to its credit and understandbly it triggered a lot of interest, thrill and curiousity.

       As the countdown progressed, BMM kept looking at the brass model, touching it now and then and saying to itself that in a few moments its actual counterparts would take off.

      Mark-18 minutes: mission director G.Ravindranath gives  the `go' for launch to vehicle director, Jaychandra Nair. In the hi tech mission control room at Sriharikota, the scientists kept monitoring their computers observing data from the rocket and the satellite. At that point all systems were a `go' for launch.

      Mark-five minutes: Weather is a `go.'

      Mark-3 minutes: On board computers get into the flight mode.

      -55 seconds, - 50 secs-45-35-30-25-20-15-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-the strap ons ignite-3-2-1-0. The rocket lifted off triggering as usual a huge round of applause from the scientists and engineers in the mission control room and several onlookers at Sriharikota.

      Barely had the applause subsided and when the flight had touched the 53 second mark the rocked started began to behave erratically, veered off its designated trajectory and Isro chairman K.Radhakrishnan gave destruct command T plus 63 seconds. Should BMM keep this super model next to it in the next launch?!!!!!! Yes, it will!

      There was a huge fireball and it seemed as though there was a  nuclear explosion rather than a rocket flight. Therefore, starting the launch telecast on Saturday with a profile of Raja Ramanna seemed appropriate!!!! Doordarshan was unaware of this connection!
   
       A GSLV  mission for the second time in six months had flopped--the previous one on April 15,2010 when the rocket was powered with an indigenous cryogenic engine. At that time the rocket was at an altitude of eight kms and was 2.5 kms from Sriharikota. The debris fell into the sea and it was the third failure of the seven GSLV flights. It appears that the Bay of Bengal atleast off Sriharikota exists to receive the debris of the GSLVs.

      Sometime after this Christmas Day space disaster---ironically the space programme was born in the beautiful St Mary's Magdelene's Church in Thumba 47 years ago---Radhakrishnan announced the preliminary cause of the setback could be attributed to a snapped chord resulting in a command from the equipment bay failing to reach the first stage of the rocket. Pradeep feels that it was too early to come to any firm conclusion.

      BMM does not want to speculate on the technical cause of the mishap. But, on its possible impact space scientists like M.N.Vahia of the Tifr feel that it could perhaps delay the prestigious Rs 425-crore Indian moon mission, Chandrayaan-2 slated for lift off in 2013, the manned space flight in 2015 for which the formal okay has yet to come from the government and the launch of communication satellites by the GSLV. If there was a delay in launching the communication satellites Isro will have to depend upon foreign launchers like Arianespace or hire foreign satellite which it had done in an earlier case.

     Nehru Planetarium director, Piyush Pandey, is of the view that the next launch of the GSLV should be tried with a dud satellite. He feels that it should be test flight of this somewhat unreliable rocket. His opinion is bound to find unanimous support among the scientists of Isro's Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre whose communication payloads, instead of hitting the sky, have been drowning in the sea instead!

     But, there is one school of thought within Isro which is confident that none of these projects would be delayed. They are now faced with a challenging task of proving that their optimism.despite the disaster was justified.

     BMM, though by no means a technical expert, however has these suggestions.

     * The government should appoint a committee headed by an outside expert to probe the cause of Saturday's failure.

     * Its functioning should be transparent and should emulate the example of the US system in which a certain degree of public participation is allowed. After all the tax payer has the right to know what is happening.
   
     * The full report of this committee, not an edited, diluted or abridged one should be available on Isro's website.  Just not a press release,

     In this connection BMM wants to know whether Chandrayaan report of the Prime Minister's committee will be made public?

``Apollo 8. You are a go for TLI

          ``Apollo 8. You are a go for TLI (Trans Lunar Injection).''  This was the historical message flashed by Michael Collins, who was the first capsule communicator, for the Apollo 8 mission to its crew. The important transmission took place around 8.30 p.m. and 22 seconds (IST). The date: December 21, 1968. The signal meant that officially mission control at Nasa's manned spacecraft centre in Houston, Texas. has given the green signal for Apollo 8 to fly to the moon

           This happaned 42 years ago on December 21,1968 The mission commander was Frank Borman, command module pilot, James Lovell and lunar module pilot, William Anders, The trio lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in what turned to be a major path breaking mission to the moon. Though there was some resistance to the plan from top Nasa scientists, including from adminstrator, James Webb, finally they all came around to this challenging and daredevil flight plan, The CIA had stated that the Russians were working on a similar type of mission of going around the moon.

           The main significance of the Apollo 8 flight was that:-

           * It was the first human spaceflight to leave the earth's orbit.
           "  It was the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body and the first crewed voyage to return to earth.
           * The crew members became the first humans to directly see the far side of the moon.
           *  It paved the way for first human landing on the moon on July 20,1969.

           After lift off Apollo 8 took three days to fly to the moon and orbited it 10 times in 20 hours. Apart from other important factors, this mission is also remembered for the fact that on Christmas Eve, the crew members read out the first 10 verses from the Book Of Genesis.

           Also who will not remember the famous and beautiful picture of earthrise?  This super shot was taken by Anders and has become the cover of many mags and has been framed and displayed. What a pic? Apollo 8 was one of the most important space missions making Time magazine chose the crew as the ``Men Of The Year,''

             Spacelog, a new website, in a few days will be reproducing the transcripts of entire mission. Wait for it.

           ``Beyond Moon and Mars )BMM)'' is at present a reading called ``Chariots For Apollo--The Nasa History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft to 1969.'' For spacebuffs like BMM, the book is a great buy: packed with details and hitherto unknown spicy accounts of what really went behind planning the first manned landing on the moon---the Apollo 11 mission.

          On one of the pages, a historical invitation has been reproduced which says: ``You are cordially invited to attend the departure of the United States Spaceship Apollo V111 on its voyage around the moon, departing from launch complex 39A, Kennedy Space Centre, with the launch window commencing at seven a.m. on December 21, 1969. The Apollo V111 crew.''

          BMM on Sunday photocopied the invite to a larger size, had it laminated it and is now on display on its room.


          If only BMM had received the real invite in December 1968, said yes to the rsvp and witnessed the grand lift off on December 21,1968  what a memorable moment it would have been,

          You need luck,  This is certain.        
          

           

         

It is a `no go' for the GSLV launch,

           Is the three-stage Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) jinxed?

           On April 15, 2010, a GSLV for the first time powered with an indigenous cryogenic engine, instead of zooming towards the skies took a turn and plunged into the sea. The reason: the India-made cryogenic engine failed.

            Thousands of people who were eagerly awaiting the outcome of the mission were were terribly disappointed when Isro chairman, K.Radhakrishnan, formally declared the mission a failure and announced that within a year the next flight of the rocket with an indiigenous cryogenic engine will be launched,. This means that the launch should take place in the next four months. The question is whether the Indian cryo is ready for another flight? There is no word from Isro as yet.

           On December 19, 2010, all was a `go'  for the GSLV launch, Hectic preparations were in progress at Sriharikota. There was excitement in the air because Isro was to have launched one of its heaviest communication satellites--the 2310 kg G-Sat 5(Prime), which would have enhanced telecom and television services.

           The final 29-hour launch countdown was to kick off at 11 a.m. on Sunday targetting towards a launch at 4 p.m. on Monday. The status was green until a leak was discovered in the Russian-made cryogenic engine during the pre countdown checks. The launch authorisation board then decided to give a `no go' to initiate the final 29-hour countdown.

            Yes, there was disappointment among space scientists and engineers, but they said that such discoveries of snags at the last moment are not uncommon in space missions. ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' recalls that when it was at Sriharikota on March 30 2001, to cover the very first launch of the GSLV, the mission was halted by the computer when the countdown hit the T-0 mark. The reason: the computer discovered a technical snag preventing the launch of the mission.

           Though K.Kasturirangan who was then chairman of Isro announced that it would take atleast a year for the mission to the relaunched, everyone was surprised when the space agency resked it by just three weeks. The flight lifted off on April 19,2001. and it was flawless, launching India into higher orbits in space technology.


          So there is really nothing to feel disappointed about. See what has happened to Nasa's space shuttle ``Discovery.''  On account of leaks and cracks in its external tank, the flight has been tentatively postponed till February 2011.

          All the same the GSLV as compared to the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has not been entirely trouble-free triggering speculation whether it is jinxed. India's second mission to the moon, ``Chandrayaan-2,'' is slated to lift off atleast provisionally in 2013 with a GSLV..

         All the very best!              

Voyager 1 breaks another space record.

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              Syed Maqbool Ahmed (fourth from right) along with scientists against the backdrop of the engineering model of the Voyager spacecraft at the visitor centre of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Labaratory.        
Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM) succeeded in uploading this historic pix to the blog thanks to secy of India chapter of Moon Society, Pradeep Mohandas.Thank You Pradeep.

                                                 --------------------------------     

               On November 29,2010, my good friend, Syed Maqbool Ahmed, project manager of the Chandra Altitudunal Composition Explorer (Chace) which was one of the three payloads on board Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe (MIP), came home during his visit to Mumbai before addressing the Observer Research Foundation in the evening.
.
               We talked and talked mainly about space exploration and I got very excited when he told me that when he was working at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at Pasadena in California between 1994 and 1996, he saw the engineering model of what has become one of the greatest unmanned spacecrafts in the world. Any guess?  The Voyager spacecraft.

                While Voyager 2 was launched on August 20,1977, Voyager 1 took off on September 5, the same year--coincidentally this year on September 5 this blog was inaugurated as though it was a commeration of 33 years of flight of Voyager 1! Both were flown by the Titan-Centaur rocket and the launch was from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

                 BMM  has frequently been following the Voyager mission on the net, and on Tuesday Nasa announced that Voyager 1 crossed an important milestone by reaching a distant point at the edge of the solar system where there is no outward motion of the solar wind.

                  On reading this BMM recalled Syed saying that he had seen the engineering model of Voyager when he was at JPL. BMM contacted him in Hyderabad for his response and he said he had read about the new milestone Voyager 1 had crossed and it was something great.  He said:  ``I remember at the visitor centre of JPL there was an engineering model of Voyager and I was extremely excited and thrilled because I knew its cousin had embarked on a grand stellar tour making several important discoveries. I have appreciation for Voyager in astronomical units,'' he said.

                  Said Syed: ``I have appreciation for those who designed and developed the instruments on board Voyager. I compared the hardship the Voyager team faced while working on instruments which  worked for decades and are still functioning, as compared to us who worked on instruments which functioned for a few hours,'' he said.

                  According to Nasa, Voyager 1 was 17.4 billion kms from the sun. It has crossed into an area where the velocity of the hot ionised gas or plasma, emanating directly outward from the sun has slowed to zero. Nasa has described the event as a major milestone.Voyager project scientist, the legendary Ed Stone, has been quoted as saying that Voyager 1 is nearing interstellar space.

                  Voyager 1 and 2 have explored all the giant planets of the outer solar system and they carry a golden record containing greetings from the earth of various countries and in different languages. There is one from India too. Incidentally, a few days when I visited a book exhibition close to my house in Breach Candy I found a book about Voyager called ``Murmers of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record.'' Those involved with this great book include none other than Carl Sagan who was a part of the Voyager team.Currently I am reading a book called the ``Chariots of Apollo,'' which is about the development of Nasa's lunar lander, and the next book is ``Murmers of Earth.''

                  The total cost of the Voyager mission is 865 million dollars, Each Voyager spacecraft consists of nearly 65,000 individual parts.   Voyager 1's distance from earth is 17,206,000,000 kms and the total distance travelled since launch is 22. 364, 000, 000 kms. As of September 1,2008, at the speed of light, it took about 14 hours and 52 minutes for a signal from Voyager 1 to reach one of the giant antennas of the deep space network.

                  Ed Stone says: ``The Voyager mission has opened up our solar system in a way not possible before the space age. It has revealed our neighbours in the solar system and showed us now much there is to learn and how diverse the bodies are that share the solar system with our own planet earth,'' he added.

                 A true marvel of the space era.

                 BMM has a chart of the Voyager mission clock in its room.

                 It only hopes that it had worked!

                   
                ends
                 
              
  

December 20 ---- 4 p.m--We a a go for launch.

      Friday December 10 2010: Top shots of Isro have assembled in the conference rrom at Sriharikota. Heading them is none other than the space agency's chairman. K. Radhakrishnan. It was an important meeting and they have to take a crucial decision. On their much awaited verdict will depend the fate of an important Indian space mission next Monday----December 20.

      Not far from where they had gathered was the rocket, the mighty 49-metre tall three-stage Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). It will carry an important payload--the 2,400 kg communication satellite, designated as Gsat-5p (prime)  with a 12-year-life span. It has been configured as an exclusive c-band communication satellite which will help in long distance radio telecommunication.

     Radhakrishnan asked each of them about the status of the launch, The unanimous verdict was that the mission was `go' for launch. The date: Monday December 20, 2010. Time: 4 p.m. The launch complex: Sriharikota. All systems are go. Range is go; satellite is go; vehicle is go; telemetry and tracking are go; weather is go and so on.  The status as of Monday December 13 is green for launch. BMM hopes there will be live webcast of the launch. Watching the lift off on doordarshan is okay. but definately it cannot replace a live webcast.

     What is the significanct of the flight?  The significance is that it will help to augment telecom and television services.

    Speaking to ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM) on Monday, Isro chief spokesperson, S.Satish, said that  there will be a 90-minute launch window. In layman’s terms it means that the flight can be launched till 5.30 p.m. on December 20. 

     Gsat-5 which will replace the ageing Insat-2e satellite, has been configured as an exclusive c-band communication satellite. It is equipped with 12 c-band transponders and six extended c-band transponders. The primary role of the c-band is to help in long distance radio telecommunication.

      As a result the satellite will have wider coverage in uplink and downlink over Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe as well as zonal coverage.

      The first stage of the GSLV has solid propellant, the second stage liquid and the third stage is powered by a Russian cryogenic engine. As BMM has repeatedly pointed out after this flight, Isro will find itself in a piquant situation because it will have just one Russian-made cryogenic engine left which allows the space agency to fix one more GSLV flight firmly.

      The reason: the remaining flights will be have the indigenous cryogenic engine. Space experts, explained to BMM that the future GSLV missions will depend upon when the Indian engine will become fully operational. It may be recalled that the maiden attempt to launch a GSLV flight with an India-made engine on April 15, 2010 flopped.

       Experts say that if the indigenous cryogenic engine is not ready. then there was every likelihood of Isro having to depend upon a foreign rocket to carry its communication satellites till the indigenous one has been declared operational.

        The mission on December 20,2010 is the third launch for the year, the first one being the failed GSLV on April 15, 2010 and the second one which was a tremendous success was that of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on July 12, 2010 carrying the Cartosat-2b satellite, a student satellite, Studsat, one from Algeria, Alsat and two nano satellites from

Canada.

         For the mission on December 20, BMM wishes it God Speed and success!