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ISRO on Friday announced that the fourth edition of the PSLV Orbital platform Experiment Module (POEM-4), the repurposed spent upper stage of the PSLV vehicle used for the space docking experiment mission, has successfully completed 1,000 orbits on March 4. The PSLV-C60 Mission was launched on December 30, 2024, and POEM-4 began its operations subsequent to the successful injection of the SPADEX spacecraft, it stated. In a statement, ISRO said, "POEM-4 was configured as a three-axis stabilised platform that carried 24 payloads including 10 payloads from Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) and 14 payloads from ISRO. All the payloads including those from NGEs have completed the intended experiments in orbit." According to ISRO, POEM-4 carried out experiments in space robotics, germination of seeds and growth of bacterium in microgravity, green propulsion, laser ignition of pyro thrusters, amateur radio transmission and advanced sensors. A space start-up also tested the uplinking and ...
Software development at ISRO has always been an internal responsibility, driven by our own scientists and engineers across domains from environmental science to physics, computer scienceand more, the space agency's former chief S Somanath said. "We don't outsource these critical software systems because the deep integration between science, technology, and applications requires intimate domain understanding" he said at Software Product Management (SPM) Summit held by IIMB. The two day summit was held on February 28 and March 1, celebrating its 7th edition around the theme 'Software Product Management Excellence at Scale'. Somanath elucidated the evolution of software product management and development for space programs, emphasising the shift from environmentally focused missions to commercially operated systems. "Every piece of software, whether for satellite operations, data analysis, or mission simulations, is built in-house to ensure accuracy, security, and scientific rigor. Ov
Former ISRO chairman S Somanath has highlighted the cost-effectiveness of India's space programmes and noted that for the same satellite and share of work, the country will incur five-time less expenditure compared to the US for an upcoming mission. He was referring to the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. The joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) project will map the entire globe and provide data for understanding changes in Earth's ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, ground water and natural hazards. Somanath on Wednesday stressed on greater private sector role to push India's contribution in the global space economy from current 2 per cent to 10 per cent. Taking about NISAR, a joint Earth-observing radar mission, he said one part of the payload is being developed by the US, and the other by India. The former ISRO chief was speaking at an interactive session on the topic, "Indi
Calling for ramping up collaboration in space exploration, including on long-duration human spaceflight missions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump hailed 2025 as a pioneering year for US-India civil space cooperation. The two leaders, who also launched INDUS Innovation bridge, held wide-ranging talks on Thursday (Friday IST) focussing on broadening the bilateral partnership, including in the fields of defence, energy, space and critical technology. Modi and Trump called for more collaboration in space exploration, including on long-duration human spaceflight missions, spaceflight safety and sharing of expertise and professional exchanges in emerging areas, including planetary protection, according to a joint statement issued after the discussions. The leaders committed to further commercial space collaboration through industry engagements in conventional and emerging areas, such as connectivity, advanced spaceflight, satellite and space launch systems, space .
ISRO on Friday said it has developed and realised the ten-tonne propellant mixer for solid motors. Solid propulsion plays a crucial role in Indian Space Transportation Systems and vertical mixer is one of the critical equipment in solid motor production, ISRO said in a statement. "Solid propellants are the backbone of rocket motors, and their production requires precise mixing of highly sensitive and hazardous ingredients," the statement read. The space agency said that towards increasing the production scale of solid motor segments, Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in collaboration with Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI), Bengaluru has successfully designed and developed 10-tonne Vertical Planetary Mixers for processing the solid propellants. ISRO has termed it a significant technological marvel. It added that the 10-tonne vertical mixer is the world's largest solid propellant mixing equipment. The development involves collaboration with academia and ...
ISRO on Saturday said that it has successfully carried out the ignition trial of the indigenous CE20 cryogenic engine powering the upper stage of LVM3, with a Multi-element igniter under vacuum conditions, which simulates the engine ignition in the vacuum condition of space. This test was carried out on Friday in the High Altitude Test Facility at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, ISRO said in a statement. This engine is crucial for the Gaganyaan mission, India's ambitious crewed space mission. During this test, the ignition of the engine Thrust Chamber was carried out with a multi-element igniter in a vacuum, under the tank pressure conditions that are expected to prevail at the time of restarting the cryogenic engine in flight. The performance of the engine and the facility during the test was normal and as expected. Restarting a cryogenic engine is inherently complex and as part of the studies related to the restart operation, ISRO is exploring the initiation of
ISRO's attempts to place the NVS-02 satellite in the desired orbit suffered a setback after the thrusters on board the spacecraft failed to fire, the space agency said on Sunday. The NVS-02 satellite, which was crucial for India's own space-based navigation system, was launched on January 29 on board the GSLV-Mk 2 rocket which was ISRO's 100th launch from the spaceport at Shriharikota. "But the orbit raising operations towards positioning the satellite to the designated orbital slot could not be carried out as the valves for admitting the oxidizer to fire the thrusters for orbit raising did not open," the space agency said in an update to the GSLV-F15 mission on its website. The satellite is orbiting the Earth in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) which is not suitable for the navigation system. "The satellite systems are healthy and the satellite is currently in elliptical orbit. Alternate mission strategies for utilising the satellite for navigation in an elliptica
The 27-hour countdown for ISRO's historic 100th mission from this spaceport, launch of a Navigation satellite onboard a GSLV rocket commenced on Tuesday, sources in the space agency said. Also, this would be the first mission for ISRO Chairman V Narayanan, who assumed office on January 13. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with indigenous Cryogenic upper stage in its 17th flight, carrying the navigation satellite NVS-02 is scheduled for lift-off at 6.23 am on January 29 from the second launch pad here. The navigation satellite is the second in the series of the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) aimed to provide accurate position, velocity and timing to users in the Indian sub-continent as well as to regions about 1,500 km beyond the Indian land mass. "The 27.30 hour countdown commenced at 02.53 am on Tuesday," multiple sources told PTI. The 50.9 metre tall GSLV-F15 follows the GSLV-F12 mission which successfully carried navigation satellite NVS-01, the .
ISRO on Sunday said integration of its rocket GSLV-F15 with satellite NVS-02 is complete. The GSLV-F15 rocket with Indigenous cryogenic stage is ready to be launched on January 29, with the satellite NVS-02 on board, the space agency said. This will be the 100th mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, "GSLV-F15 integration complete! Take a sneak peek at the incredible teamwork behind this mission: Countdown: Less than 3 days to launch! Join us as we unlock new frontiers," the agency said in a post on social media 'X'. GSLV-F15 will place the NVS-02 satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and the launch will take place from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, said ISRO. NVS-01, the first of the second-generation satellites, was launched on board GSLV-F12 on May 29, 2023. NVS-02, the second satellite in the NVS series, is configured with navigation payload in L1, L5 and S bands in addition to ranging payload in C-band like its predecessor-NVS-