Journey towards Space – ISRO

                    

The most wonderful and most mysterious thing in the Universe is the Universe itself. No one can say exactly how it started its journey, when it came into existence. Thousands of people from several thousands years trying to understand what exactly it is, though it is mysterious the god has given an incredible gift to human, yeah that is mind. Human mind is next mysterious thing in this Universe, Human mind is capable to reveal the secret behind the Universe and its existence. Every nation is in a race to do something for the first time when it comes to revealing something about Universe, but human first look towards the moon and in late 50’s and 60’s humans started exploring the Universe and ofcourse the Moon first.

America and Soviet Russia were in competition to reach the Moon first. It was Americans who landed first on the Moon, ofcourse they are proud to say about it, but being an Indian I am proud to say that all the knowledge of Universe, planets is given by Indians several thousands of years ago. Sadly from past few centuries Bharat was unable to do great inventions, innovations due to many reasons, but no doubt those glorious ancient days will come soon.

Inspite of many hurdles Bharat struggled and succeeded to come out from all the difficulties and started its space programme in 60’s. It was successful because we had dedicated scientists who worked very hard to achieve the planned missions.

 Prof Vikram Sarabhai who lead the team of ISRO in 60’s , a very energetic leader and under his able leadership Bharat started its journey towards reaching the space. Then dedicated, enthusiastic scientists like A P J Kalam joined the group of pioneers.

 I wanted tell how our scientists worked dedicatedly to achieve the best thing in space programme even after facing hardest hurdles. A picture is worth a thousands words. So I just wanted to post images here which will tell the story of our journey towards space.

A P J Kalam working on Rocket payload at Thumba in 1964

A P J Kalam working on rocket payload
A P J Kalam working on rocket payload

Rocket parts carried by Bullock carts 

 

Rocket parts carried by Bullock carts
Rocket parts carried by Bullock carts

Scientists transporting rocket parts on a bicycle 

Scientists transporting rocket parts on a bicycle
Scientists transporting rocket parts on a bicycle

Our scientists using muscle power to lift a rocket

Our scientists using muscle power to lift a rocket
Our scientists using muscle power to lift a rocket

These images tell the story and shows how our scientists enthusiastically worked even though there were no facilities, but they were determined to achieve the mission.

 Look where we are today? We reached Moon; We are about to reach Mars in a unique way. Our Mars mission is very unique, we used a best technique called “frugal engineering” to cut the cost. I will explain it in simple way, NASA will prepare atleast 4-5 test samples and then will launch the final satellite, which cost more for all test launches, but ISRO tries all possible way by simulating it and then analyzing every possibilities then trying with a final launch. It is possible only because we have best minds, who can analyse, who can calculate everything without even doing a prototyping and without even real testing.

 I call every young Indian, get inspired by people like A P J Kalama, Vikram Sarabhai and look towards core sciences, Do something for the nation; we are born to serve the nation.

 I am happy that we are reaching Mars in couple of days, Let us wait and say proudly that we are one among those who reached Red Planet.

It is not so easy to cross the orbit of earth and put our satellite outside earth orbit. Every minute calculation matters a lot, every small part will be very sensitive.

How important to consider every minute thing in such a mission ? Let us consider few facts from the history which shows the sensitivity of such missions.

Why some missions failed:

Bad timing: Though the Russian Kosmos 419 (1971) reached Earth’s orbit, it never reached Mars’ orbit because of a wrong ignition time setting. Instead of being set for 1.5 hours after launch, it was accidentally set for 1.5 years after launch. The spacecraft soon re-entered Earth’s orbit and disintegrated.

Faulty software: Bad mathematics may not kill you, but they can kill spacecraft! NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter (1998) disintegrated because at one instance, its software used the wrong units (pounds, instead of Newtons). This caused the spacecraft to be placed too close to Mars where atmospheric stresses destroyed it.

Mars orbiter failure : Microsoft’s Research

Software Stability – How The Mars Path finder mission failed just because of improper setting of thread priority. ( http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/mbj/Mars_Pathfinder/Mars_Pathfinder.html )

Solar flares and fuel shortage: The communication systems of Japan’s Nozomi orbiter (1998) were disrupted by powerful solar flares. It also damaged the heat control system causing the fuel to freeze. It was unable to attain Mars orbit and operation was terminated.

Nobody really knows: Just three days away from Mars, all communication was suddenly lost with NASA’s Mars Observer (1992). For months, scientists could not explain what became of the spacecraft, but investigations finally concluded that a fuel and gas leak had probably sent the spacecraft into an uncontrollable spin damaging critical electrical circuits.

A journey To Mars –

This small video clip will give clear picture on how a satellite will reach Mars

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.php?id=1038

Update – http://knowledge-cess.com/reaching-the-red-planet-mom-isros-successful-mission/

Dr K Radhakrishnan Chairman of ISRO  Interviewed – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALPKTEitvrg&list=PLVOgwA_DiGzqMeD9X9LnC9SINtosOgE5W