RIA Novosti interview with Mr. Madhavan Nair, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman
How do you assess cooperation of India and Russia in space?
ISRO has had a long standing and successful co-operation with the erstwhile USSR in Space with the active participation of USSR in setting up the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in early Sixties, Joint meteorological studies using more than 1000 meteorological sounding rockets launched from Thumba supplied from USSR and launching for India’s Aryabhata, Bhaskara-I and 2 and for IRS-1A, 1B and IRS-1C in addition to the Tracking support for several Indian satellites.
The most significant and successful co-operation with Russia is the development and supply of the cryogenic engines for the Geo-stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) on a commercial basis. A historical milestone in Indo-Russian Space Co-operation was achieved in 2001 when Indian Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully demonstrated its capability in its first development flight using the Russian developed Cryogenic Stage (CS) as its third stage.
India considers Russia as the long standing partner in the field of space from the inception stage of Indian Space Programme.
Is this cooperation diversified enough? What would you like to improve in it?
India cooperates with Russia in many fields of exploration and peaceful uses of outer space. It has many currently operational agreements in the fields of moon exploration, global navigation system, human space flight, spacecraft building for atmospheric studies, etc.
India would like to further strengthen the cooperation in the above fields and also would like to cooperate further in developing cheaper and reusable means of access to the space.
Can you disclose details of the proposed manned space missions in 2013 and 2015?
ISRO has prepared a Project Report for deploying a space capsule for carrying two humans to low earth orbit of about 275 km for a duration of about a week which is being processed for approval. Once approved, formal approval from the Government is awaited. The first mission is likely during 2015.
When the approval of the manned space mission is expected? Chandrayan I has been India's great success. How does it do on the orbit - any signs of water or Helium-3 so far? What main achievements it has made so far?
Chandrayaan has successfully completed 9 months of satisfactory operation in orbit and has sent vast amount of data on unique features of lunar surface. Presently the data is being analysed by scientific community from India and abroad. As of now, we have not found any signs of water or Helium-3.
How is work progressing on Chandrayan II, what is project status?
We have an operational agreement for a joint unmanned lunar landing mission and the definition of the mission has been completed. The Chandrayaan–2 mission will have an orbital flight vehicle constituting an Orbiter Craft (OC) and Lunar Craft (LC) that will carry a soft landing system up to Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT). The target location for the Lander-rover will be identified using data from Chandrayaan-1 instruments. ISRO is responsible for developing the Orbiter while Russia is responsible for developing the Lander and Rover. Additional scientific payloads will be acquired from international scientific community through announcement of opportunity.
The mission is targeted for 2011-12.
When the launch of YouthSat satellite will take place? Can we expect YouthSat-2 any time soon?
To encourage the participation of students community in spacecraft building and data utilization, a satellite project involving students from Indian and Russian Universities has been conceived under the Mini Satellite Programme of ISRO. Accordingly a satellite named as Youthsat with 2 scientific payloads from ISRO and one from Moscow State University are planned to be flown to study the phenomenon of solar flare and ionospherical studies. YOUTHSAT is planned to be launched along with Resourcesat-2 in the third quarter of 2009.
Of course, we can expect similar projects coming up in future such missions are highly beneficial in motivating the younger generation.
Has the slowdown in the economy cast any effect on Indian space program? In what field?
Indian space programme is oriented towards research and development in space science and technology. These programmes are also must for development of society and government fully supports such activities.
What is the status of Mark III rocket project?
Activities related to GSLV-Mark III capable of putting a 4 tonne satellite into GTO is progressing satisfactorily. Various facilities needed for development of the vehicle have been commissioned. The first launch is targeted for 2010-11.
India is a serious player on imaging market. How big share India can take of the global market in this regard, what are targets? When 'Bhuvan' project will be complete and ready? Will it be free like Google Earth but much better? What is status?
The data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites are received at 24 stations across the globe. Our share of remote sensing satellite data is about 18 to 20 percent of the global market. Bhuvan is a web based portal service providing access to 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional data from IRS satellites and geo-spatial information generated from them. The Bhuvan is currently under test and evaluation.
What is status of Mars mission project? How far ISRO ambitions are reaching?
Mars mission is presently under study. We are awaiting interesting scientific proposals from the scientific community. Only after reviewing the scientific experiments/proposals project proposal will be finalised.
