Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
Continuing the recent ambitious pace of developing into a formidable space power, the Indians are now taking the next small step - continuing deploying satellites for their Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). Consisting of 7 satellites (4 in geostationary and 3 in inclined geosynchronous orbits) in its full configuration, IRNSS serves as an augmentation system by providing additional navigation signals in the L5 and S-bands to the existing American GPS and European Galileo satellite navigation systems across southern Asia, increasing position accuracy across the region for civilian and military use. IRNSS-1B is the 2nd of 7 satellites to be launched, following IRNSS-1A which went into orbit last July. Both will be parked at the 55 degrees East slot. 2 more are to be launched this year, with the remaining 3 in 2015.
Of all things, 2014 may also turned out to be a banner year for the Indian space industry. Later this summer a sub-orbital test flight of the largest Indian satellite launcher ever developed, the GSLV Mark III, will be launched in almost the final configuration (the only thing missing is the new LH2-powered second stage engine, still 2 years away from being able to be used) aiming at a 200 km apogee to test out the new developed core stage (using existing hypergolic engines) and the new segmented solid rocket boosters. On top of it is a boilerplate spacecraft that will be tested for re-entry and splashdown that will serve to further improve the design for an Indian-built manned spacecraft, should the plans go ahead. When the rocket finally is ready to carry satellites in 2016, it will finally provide India with a EELV-medium class workhorse (10 tonnes to LEO, 4.5 tonnes to GTO). And of course their Mars orbiter should arrive this September for what may be a fruitful mission.
Stay tuned! :tiphat:
Launch location:
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad 13°43′58.8″ N, 80°14′6″ E
Launch dates and times:
Time Zone|Australia - Sydney/AEDT|Moscow / MSK/ UTC+4|CEDT UTC+2|Universal / UTC|Washington / EDT|Delhi / UTC+5.5
Launch time:|22:44|15:44|13:44|11:44|07:44|17:14
on:|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014
on:|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014|Apr. 4, 2014
{colsp=7}[highlight]
[eventTimer]2014-04-04 11:44?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] IRNSS-1B Launch[/highlight]
Live Coverage
- http://webcast.gov.in/live - begins about 30 minutes before the launch
(also note better links may come later before launch)
Payload, Launch Vehicle and Launch Timeline
Weather Forecast for Chennai, India on April 4, 2014 (5 p.m.)
Partly cloudy. High 34C. Winds SSE at 15 to 30 kmh.
6 PM|30°C|20°C|57%|0%|0%|41%|1008 hPa|18 km/h SE|
References
http://www.isro.org/pslv-c24/c24-status.aspx
http://www.isro.org/pslv-c24/pdf/pslv-c24-brochure.pdf
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/irnss.htm
http://navipedia.org/index.php/IRNSS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Regional_Navigational_Satellite_System
