In the latest AFM issue is a picture of the first Tejas trainer (PV5) made by Saniay Simha … Are there any better ones out there ??? … and why wasn’t it posed here before … ?

Besides that … a Chinese is painting/drawing an Indian aircraft … very nice profile from Topgunchen !

Cheers, Deino

Thank You Deino

I would like to Know more about the Tejas trainer (PV5) from AFM

Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit

Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, entered lunar orbit today (November 8, 2008). This is the first time that an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth’s gravitational field and reached the moon. This historic event occurred following the firing of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s liquid engine at 16:51 IST for a duration of 817 seconds. The highly complex ‘lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre’ was performed from Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bangalore.

Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu supported the crucial task of transmitting commands and continuously monitoring this vital event with two dish antennas, one measuring 18 m and the other 32 m.

Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine was fired when the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the moon to reduce its velocity to enable lunar gravity to capture it into an orbit around the moon. The spacecraft is now orbiting the moon in an elliptical orbit that passes over the polar regions of the moon. The nearest point of this orbit (periselene) lies at a distance of about 504 km from the moon’s surface while the farthest point (aposelene) lies at about 7502 km. Chandrayaan-1 takes about 11 hours to go round the moon once in this orbit.

The performance of all the systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 is normal. In the coming days, the height of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s orbit around the moon will be carefully reduced in steps to achieve a final polar orbit of about 100 km height from the moon’s surface. Following this, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of the spacecraft will be released to hit the lunar surface. Later, the other scientific instruments will be turned ON sequentially leading to the normal phase of the mission.

It may be recalled that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched on October 22, 2008 by PSLV-C11 from India’s spaceport at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. As intended, PSLV placed the spacecraft in a highly oval shaped orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 22,860 km. In the past two weeks, the liquid engine of Chandrayaan-1 has been successfully fired five times at opportune moments to increase the apogee height, first to 37,900 km, then to 74,715 km, later to 164,600 km, after that to 267,000 km and finally to 380,000km, as planned. During this period, the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), one of the eleven payloads (scientific instruments) of the spacecraft, was successfully operated twice to take the pictures, first of the Earth, and then moon.

With today’s successful manoeuvre, India becomes the fifth country to send a spacecraft to Moon. The other countries, which have sent spacecraft to Moon, are the United States, former Soviet Union, Japan and China. Besides, the European Space Agency (ESA), a consortium of 17 countries, has also sent a spacecraft to moon.

K-15 missile to be tested from land
BALASORE: After successfully test-firing nuke-capable submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) K-15 from underwater, defence scientists are now planning a test from land next month.

Sources at Chandipur defence base Wednesday said for the first time the missile will be test-fired from a land-based launcher in the Integrated Test Range ( ), next month.

During the test, the scientists will check speed, trajectory, azimuth and other parameters of the missile set for the mission, sources told this website’s newspaper. Earlier, the missile had undergone two tests from the underwater platform Pontoon (replica of a submarine) immersed inside the sea.

SLBM was successfully test-fired on February 27 this year from INS Kalinga off Visakhapatnam coast. India thus joined a select group of five nations —— Russia, the US, France, the UK and China to have the technology. The slender K-15 has a length of around 11 metres, larger than the 8.5 metre long Prithvi short-range ballistic missile but smaller than 15-metre-long Agni-1 ballistic missile. It can carry a payload up to one tonne.

‘The missile has two stages fitted into its half-a-metre wide body. An underwater booster propels it clear of the submarine and takes the missile to a height of 5 km above the sea surface. On reaching this altitude, a second stage solid motor kicks in to propel the missile to a distance of over 700 km,’ a defence scientist said.

India is yet to finish the construction of its own nuclear-powered submarine – advanced technology vessel (ATV), from which the SLBMs will be launched. The ATV is expected to be ready for sea trials next year.

Chandrayaan-2 likely next year end or 2010: ISRO

PTI
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 AT 1:10 PM
Tags: space
Close…

SRIHARIKOTA: After the successful launch of India’s first unmanned mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to send its second lunar odyssey, Chandrayaan-2, an Indo-Russian joint venture, likely by the end of next year or early 2010.

The work on this project would be taken up after Chandrayaan-1 starts its task of researching the moon, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters here after the PSLV-C11 launched the spacecraft.

“One of the two GSLV missions next year could carry Chandrayaan-2,” he said.

The team behind the success of the first mission would work on Chandrayaan-2 also, he added.

However, the composition of the instruments for Chandrayaan-2 would be decided after studying the data received from the first mission, he said.

The second mission, for which the ISRO and Russian federal space agency have already signed a pact, would feature a lander and a rover for a soft land on moon.

“However, there would be a provision for accommodating payloads from other space agencies as is the case of Chandrayaan 1,” Nair said.
In addition to India’s five payloads, Chandrayaan-1 is carrying scientific instruments of the European Space Agency, Bulgaria and the USA.

Chandrayaan-I launched successfully

SRIHARIKOTA: Chandrayaan-1, India’s maiden moon spacecraft, was on Wednesday put into Transfer Orbit around the earth by the Polar Launch Vehicle PSLV-C11 about 19 minutes after it blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here.

The 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1, carrying 11 payloads, was released into a Tansfer Orbit at a perigee (nearest point to earth) of about 250 km and apogee (farthest point from the earth) of about 23,000 km, 18.2 minutes after the PSLV-C11 blasted off as the scientists broke into jubilation at the mission control centre.

After a series of procedures over the next two weeks, the spacecraft would reach its desired Lunar orbit and placed at a height of 100 km from the Lunar surface, marking the operational phase of the mission which would put India in the elite lunar club.

Earlier, at the end of the 49-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-11 lifted off from the second launch pad into a cloudy sky.

This is the 14th flight of ISRO’s workhorse PSLV, which had launched 29 satellites into a variety of orbits since 1993, and 13th successive one in a row.

Chandrayaan-1 is carrying 11 payloads, five entirely designed and developed in India, three from European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria and two from US, which would explore the Moon over the next two years.

Photo Gallary of Chandrayaan-1 and PSLV-C11 – ISRO