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Technological breakthrough: Madhavan Nair
T.S. Subramanian
| A "big boost" to mastering re-entry and recoverable technologies and building a reusable launch vehicle |
WE DID IT: B.N. Suresh, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, and M. Annamalai, Director, SHAR, with the recovered satellite in the background at the Ennore Port in Chennai on Monday.
CHENNAI : Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G. Madhavan Nair described as "fantastic" the splashdown of satellite SRE-I into the waters of the Bay of Bengal on Monday morning. He called it "a technological breakthrough as far as the country is concerned."
Speaking to The Hindu from Sriharikota, he said the SRE's successful return would boost plans to send an Indian into space. "This is a humble step towards sending an Indian into space."
The SRE recovery was a "big boost" to India mastering the re-entry and recoverable technologies and building a reusable launch vehicle.
While sending a satellite into space was "comparatively easy," as the points were known, "everything was unknown" in bringing back a satellite in orbit. "The satellite had a speed of 28,000 km an hour. We had to brake its orbit. We had to steer it. Its orbit-raising took place over the Pacific Ocean, then it travelled over the Pole, and then it passed Lucknow and Sriharikota. Its navigation, guidance, control and above all the thermal management for its re-entry had to work."
Mr. Nair pointed out that "one small flaw in the tiles of the shuttle mission [of the U.S.] cost the whole mission."
Accuracy unbelievable
B.N. Suresh, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, described the splashdown of the satellite as "a very exciting and thrilling experience because so many new technologies such as thermal protection system, autonomous navigation system, guidance and control system during the re-entry phase, deceleration and flotation systems were used for the first time in this mission."
Dr. Suresh said, "the accuracy with which the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) returned to the earth was unbelievable because it came down within 15 km downgrade and less than six km laterally."
The SRE was "a very difficult experiment because there is a hostile atmosphere during the satellite's re-entry into the earth's atmosphere and it was a real challenge to decelerate it" and make it splash down in the Bay of Bengal.
The VSSC and the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, were the lead centres, which built the recoverable satellite. The ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore, tracked the satellite. The Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, did the complete recovery operation.
The Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra, provided the three parachutes in the SRE. Dr. Suresh said it was a satisfying experience that all organisations worked in unison. The SRE had four major hardware elements: an aero thermo structure, a space platform, a deceleration and flotation system and two payloads for conducting experiments in microgravity. The satellite had flight electronics. Its triggering system opened the three parachutes one after another.
The flight electronics sensed the altitude and deployed the parachutes. The parachutes, pyro-devices, avionics packages, telemetry and tracking systems were all placed inside the satellite.
K. Narayana, former Director SDSC, Sriharikota, called the recovery of the satellite a wonderful experience.
A. Subramonian of VSSC was the Project Director, SRE-I. K.N. Shankara is the Director of the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. S.K. Shivakumar is the ISTRAC Director. M. Annamalai is the Director of the SDSC, Sriharikota.
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