From: gnreddy@cbnewsf.att.com (G.Narotham Reddy)
Subject: Indian Space Agency embark on Interplanetary probe
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 00:10:41 GMT


Source	: The Hindu
Date	: Aug 29, 1992
Country	: India


* ISRO sets sights on three planets and it had already worked on "hyperplane"

The Indian Space Research Organization has announced plans to launch
probes to study various planets and their environs.
	ISRO scientists have picked Mars, Mercury and Venus for the
studies and have worked out the mission sequence for probes to be
launched for each of these planets.  The sequence includes control of
trajectory, execution of delicate manoeuvres, and the use of the
gravity of the other planets to hurl probes deep into the space.
	"The first mission (probably to study Mars) should fructify
around 1998-99 using the geo-synchronous satellite launch
vehicle(GSLV)," the ISRO chairman Prof.U.Ro.Rao, told the UNI in an
interview.
	Prof.Rao said ISRO had the confidence and capability to embark
on such interplanetary studies.  However, details such as the type of
studies to be carried out and the probes to be launched would be
discusses with other scientists after the successful flights of the
polar satellite launch vehicle(PSLV) and the GSLV rockets, scheduled
for launch in 1993 and 1995-96 respectively.
	
Ground Station: Prof. Rao said the launch of these probes would depend
on whether the dedicated ground stations, with at least two massive
dish antennae to receive the data beamed by the probes, were ready.
The probes would be modest 200 to 250 kg satellites.  On the funds
required for studies of this magnitude, he said: "We must be ready
with the technology and worry about the funds later.  If the Government
can not fund the entire project, we could collaborate with other
countries.
	I hope the geo-political situation will changer for the better
by then."
	
Reusable vehicles: On futurists space vehicles, Prof.Rao said ISRO had
started experiments to prove the concept of "airbreathing" on reusable
launch vehicles. "These test will go on full swing after the launch of
the PSLV, because we plan to draw people from that project and ask them
to work on air breathing vehicle. Also, for a full-fledged airbreathing
vehicle, we need the cryogenic engines (due from Russia before 1995)."
	The process of airbreathing helps to deploy heavy satellites
and payloads at one-tenth the cost of current methods using vehicles
such as the space shuttle.  The airbreathing space vehicle, fitted with
cryogenic engines and carrying only liquid hydrogen, will suck in
oxygen from the atmosphere, liquify it and use it along with liquid
hydrogen to travel deep into the space.
	"It will be another five years before we take a decision on
these vehicles, but we must be ready with the design and technology bt
the.  Many countries may haveto join because these are prohibitively
expensive vehicles," he said.
	
Hyperplane: Prof Rao said ISRO had worked together with Bharat Dynamics
Ltd, Hyderabad, for the design of "hyperplane" (hypersonic platform for
airbreathing ascent to near-earth orbit), a multi-million rupee vehicle
which combines the technologies of aircraft, rockets and airbreathing to
fly at several times the speed of sound and deploy heavy satellites in
space.  While agencies such as the European Space Agency were working
on such transportation systems, the first such vehicle would probably
fly only around 2010, he added.
	ISRO scientists, he said would visit China later this year as a
followup of the agreement signed by the two countries for cooperation
in space.  Already, broad areas of mutual interest, such as building
small, low-earth orbit satellites and application of remote sensing to
spot natural gas deposits had been identified.  Further discussions
would focus on how to execute the collaboration within a specified
timeframe.
	ISRO had completed a feasibility stude for the international
organization "inmarsat" which proposed to launch a large number of
small satellites for mobile communication. - UNI

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