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SpaceX gets U.S. approval to deploy up to 7,500 satellites

The US Federal Communications Commission i.e., FCC approved SpaceX proposal to deploy approximately 7,500 satellites on Thursday but put several other judgments on hold.

Starlink, a rapidly expanding network of over 3,500 low-Earth orbit satellites, has thousands of users across the United States thus far, with customers paying a minimum of 599 USD ‘for a user terminal as well as 110 USD per month for service. In 2018, the FCC approved SpaceX’s plans to launch up to 4,425 first-generation satellites.

SpaceX has applied for permission to function a network of 29,988 satellites known as the “second-generation” or Gen2 Starlink constellation, which will transmit internet to areas that have limited or no internet access.

The FCC denied SpaceX’s entire application, which included the deployment of approximately 30,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, and imposed conditions on the firm’s plan to deploy the satellites. It postponed the decision to initiate launching the full number of applications.

“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next-generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide,” the FCC said in its approval order, adding it “will enable worldwide satellite broadband service, helping to close the digital divide on a global scale.”
The FCC said its decision “will protect other satellite and terrestrial operators from harmful interference and maintain a safe space environment” and protect “spectrum and orbital resources for future use.”
Source: reuters.com

A U.S. appeals court backed the FCC’s 2021 decision to allow SpaceX’s plan to deploy some Starlink satellites in a lower Earth orbit just as scheduled as the portion of its push to offer space-based broadband internet service.

In September, SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the FCC for denying it 885.5 million USD in rural broadband subsidies. Starlink’s technique has real promise according to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, but it is unable to meet the program’s requirements, citing data showing a gradual decline in the rate of speed over the past year and casting the service’s price as too high for consumers.

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

ISRO Looking To Build A Design For New Reusable Rocket For Global Market.

As we know that the expense of reaching into space is a major hindrance in space exploration and other space-related applications. So, a reusable rocket launched by ISRO would prove a great unanimous solution to attain low-cost, trustworthy, and on-demand space access.

India is allegedly forethinking about designing and building a brand-new reusable rocket for the global market, S Somanath, Division of Area Secretary and Indian Area Analysis Organisation in ISRO, announced through the Bangaluru Area Expo (BSX) 2022 on 5 September, Monday. The proximate launch automobile from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) afterward the GSLV Mk III launch could be a reusable one and it is predictable that it will cut back on the expense of launching satellites. The area firm will allegedly work with the area businesses, startups, and New Space India Restricted for the development of the said reusable rocket.

During the seventh edition of Bengaluru Space Expo 2022 to support and encourage private space agencies, the chairman of the Indian research Space Organisation, S Somanath, declared his plans to design and develop a new reusable rocket according to a report by Press Trust of India (PTI), India’s primary news agency having reach as vast as Railways.

“…all of us want launches to be much cheaper than what we do today,”.
“So, the idea is the next rocket that we are going to build after GSLV Mk III should be a reusable rocket,” Somnath said.
“This is the idea and we are working on that idea. That idea cannot be ISRO’s alone. It has to be an industry’s idea. So, we will have to work with them in designing a new rocket, not only designing it, engineering it, manufacturing it and launching it as a commercial product and operating it in a commercial manner,” he added.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Currently, it costs ISRO about 10,000 USD which is approximately 7,97,800 INR, and 15,000 USD which is about 11,96,800 INR to position a one-kilogram payload into orbit. Somanath apparently said that they can cut it down to up to 5,000 USD (about 3,98,000 INR) and 1,000 USD (about 79,700 INR) per kg and that the one procedure to take action may be to construct the rocket reusable. He also specified that currently, the nation does not possess reusable expertise in the launch autos division.

Indian Space Research Organization has been involved in several different applied sciences together with the Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, in order to have a retro-propulsion to land the rocket back on earth, he confirmed adding that by integrating these latest applied sciences, the area firm wants to be a member of palms with industry, startups and its commercial arm NSIL (New Space India Limited) to develop a latest reusable rocket.

“We would like to see such a rocket, a rocket which will be competitive-enough, a rocket that will be cost-conscious, production-friendly which will be built in India but operated globally for the services of the space sector. This should happen in the next few years so that we can retire all those operating launch vehicles (in India) at appropriate time,” he said.
“So, it’s a big shift from what we do today,” he pointed out. “I would like to see this (proposal) taking shape in the next few months.”
Source: www.thehindu.com

ISRO will be working on the Reusable launch vehicle technology demonstration program, also known as the RLVTD series of technology demonstration missions which will reportedly be the first step towards the building of a fully reusable vehicle. A winged Reusable launch rocket is confirmed to act as a flying test bed to evaluate several technologies.

Suhani Jain

Virgin Orbit Plans to Be the First Company to Send Commercial CubeSats to Mars

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Yashica Vashishtha

There are none of the companies which is not interested in exploring the Red Planet. Now the spin-off company of Richard Branson‘s space tourism company Virgin Galactic, the Virgin Orbit has also got new plans to explore the Earth’s neighbouring planet.

Today the company announced that it has partnered with a Polish satellite company, SatRevolution, such that together these will be working on building smallsat CubeSats and send them to Mars. The company has also got around a dozen Polish universities, including AGH University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, having a vast experience in the space technology, onboard to work on the same project. Virgin Orbit also revealed that the company is trying to get its first satellite ready and send it as soon as 2022.

The company’s new mission is said to be inspired by NASA’s recent InSight mission. NASA under its InSight mission successfully sent two CubeSats (small spacecraft of the size of a cereal box) to Mars in November 2018, And now, Virgin Orbit wants to send a series of CubeSats to the Red Planet under its three robotic missions.

The company will carry out the three missions in the next decade starting from 2022. These missions will make Virgin Orbit the first private company to complete a purely commercial trip to Mars, as there are only four organisation that has successfully completed their Mars missions and that too, the government-owned ones. Even the Major player in the private space industry, SpaceX has not been able to do a similar mission till now.

So the mission might not only be to send the CubeSats to Mars, but to make Virgin Orbit the first company for bringing commercial CubeSats to the “Red Planet”.

According to the company, despite being small satellites, the CubeSats will help to dig deeper into Mars’ atmospheric conditions, its orbit as well as surface and help in researching on the planet by providing key information. The smallsats will be able to click and send in images, analyse the Mars’ atmosphere, and even look for water on and under the martian surface. The company has not given any other information but has revealed that the spacecraft can weigh around 50 KG.

The company will be operating from multiple spaceports including the Mojave Air, Space Port in California as well as Cornwall Spaceport in the U.K. The company will be making use of its LauncherOne rocket to launch the CubeSats from in between the air.

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Kailasavadivoo Sivan : The Rocket Man of India

Leave a Comment / India, Inspiration, Tech Story / By Annasha

Amongst the innumerable number of successful entrepreneurs, and tech-savvies, there always emerges out a legendary person who creates history and breaks the records. Flourishing in the business world is not a big deal today given that we have developed so much in terms of technology, but how many of us dare launch spaceships and fly into the space to explore the galaxy?

All these sounds very astronomical, especially, for a developing country like India, isn’t it? Particularly, if the person behind the successful Indian space missions is a farmer’s son. A far-fetched dream, it seems like but turned into reality by none other than Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the chairperson of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization). Today, because of this Indian scientist, India’s second mission to the moon was successfully launched. Outweighing other developed and superior nations of our world, Sivan is really creating a new era for India.

A Farmer’s Son

Born on 14th April 1957 in a small village called Tarakkanvillai in Kanyakumari district, Sivan belonged to a very poor household. Sivan’s father, Kailasavadivoonadar Sivan, was a farmer, so his family couldn’t afford a very good school for him.

He went to a government-sponsored school in his village, and later, went to ST Hindu College in Nagercoil for his graduation. Unable to afford any tuition or proper coaching, Sivan was a self-supported student and turns out, was the first graduate in his family.

After completing his undergraduate degree, he pursued aeronautical engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. After graduated from there in 1980, he received a master’s degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1982. Sivan took one more step forward towards his bright future, and also our nation’s when he completed his PhD from IIT Bombay in 2006. Sivan also received an honorary doctorate in science from Sathyabama University.

Journey to ISRO

Sivan joined ISRO long before completing his PhD, that is, in 1982. Sivan was a part of ISRO’s many projects, but one of the significant projects he participated in was the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. This was his first project after joining ISRO. Another big project where he made a significant contribution is the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), and, later, he became a project director of GSLV. He majorly worked with designing and development of space vehicles for ISRO’s missions.

Sivan is famous all over the nation as ‘Rocket Man’ because he is probably the best-known scientist in India and has a significant contribution in building cryogenic rocket engines. Sivan became the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center on 1st June 2015, and before that, he served as the director of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Center.

On January 2018, Sivan was declared as the ninth chairperson of ISRO after A.S Kiran Kumar.

Sivan’s Contribution to India’s Space Missions

Sivan’s unparallel contribution and untamed determination for the space missions of India led him to launch 104 satellites in one single mission. Had it not been for this devoted scientist, India would be still struggling to launch a successful moon mission for the second time.

Kailasavadivoo Sivan has been working for ISRO for more than three decades now. But, before Sivan became the chairperson of ISRO, he served at many powerful positions like Secretary of Department of Space, Chair of the Space Commission, Deputy Director (ISRO), Project Director (ISRO), and many more.

Today, due to Sivan’s sheer dedication, India is known as the first country in the entire world that is preferred for a soft landing on the moon. ISRO’s biggest mission, after Sivan became the chairperson, Chandrayaan 2 was launched on 22nd July 2019. But this braveheart shattered into pieces when the Lander lost all communications, but still, the mission was 95% successful, only because of this man.

Awards and Achievements

Since 1999, Sivan has been the recipient of many prestigious awards starting with Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr Vikram Sarabhai Research Award. In 2007, he received ISRO merit award, followed by Dr Biren Roy Space Science Award in 2011. In 2019, he was awarded A.P.J Abdul Kalam Award from Tamil Nadu’s government.

Sivan is also a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Aeronautical Society of India.

Personal Life

Kailasavadivoo Sivan is married to Malathi Sivan, and he is the parent to two kids, Siddharth and Sushant Kailasavadivoo Sivan. The family lives in the Bengaluru City of India.

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NASA collaborates with US based Space Agencies

NASA to Collaborate with Commercial U.S. Based Space Agencies to Advance Mars, Moon Technologies

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Yashica Vashishtha

NASA is the first agency to land on the surface of the moon, and the world’s top space agency, too. But it seems to further extend its operations, NASA needs the support of other organisations as well. Leading to this, the organisation has announced a partnership with the long list of various commercial U.S. based space agencies, including SpaceX, BlueOrigin, and Lockheed Martin.

NASA has partnered with thirteen U.S. based space agencies and has formed partnerships on 19 different technologies that will help it advance its operations for reaching out and landing on other planets and extend its research on Mars and the lunar surface.

Through the Announcement of Collaborative Opportunity initiative, NASA had invited proposals from different space organisations. The agency had asked those organisations to submit proposals for the technology they want to work upon. On the basis of various factors, the agency has selected thirteen different organisations.

With those agencies, NASA will be providing appropriate resources and support, such that they can continue their research work on the selected technology. The organisations will be working collaboratively on different operations, including landing on other planets, navigating over the surface of the Moon, transferring propellant in space, improving spacecraft operation, etc.

The Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space company will work on a fuel cell-based power system to be used in the company’s Blue Moon lander. The company will be collaborating with NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the Goddard Space Flight Center. Along with that, the company will work on a new navigation system. The system will help in an accurate and safe landing of spacecraft on various parts of the Moon. It will also be developing a new power system, that will empower the landers on the Moon in the lunar nights or for at least two weeks.

On the other hand, SpaceX will be collaborating with the Kennedy Space Center. The two will be working on improving the technology that helps in verticle landing of bigger landers, at the place where the gravity is not that strong, like on the moon and other zero-gravity environments. Other than that, the company will work on improving the workability of the reusable rockets. With the new technology, the rocket propellent can be moved through one vehicle to the other efficiently, within the orbit.

The third biggest company, Lockheed Martin, will be working on robotics and autonomous technologies that would help in plantation and farming in the space so that it will be possible to harvest plants in the deep space in the coming future.

Other than these three companies, Advanced Space will be the part of NASA’s lunar navigation technologies research works and Vulcan Wireless will be helping NASA test the CubeSat radio transponder, and its compatibility with NASA’s Space Network.

Aerogel Technologies, Spirit AeroSystem Inc., Anasphere, Bally Ribbon Mills, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Maxar Technologies, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Colorado Power Electronics Inc., are the other companies that have been selected by NASA to work on its various operations, related to Mars and the Moon missions.