M4L8: Satellite and Launch Vehicles

Till now, we were discussing the economics related to outer space. But, the core of all these things is technology.

A nation can increase its hard power, only when it has created a strategic depth in advanced technologies. The ‘Made in China 2025’ plan aims to break China’s reliance on foreign technology and pull its hi-tech industries up to Western levels. The goals of Made in China 2025 include increasing the Chinese-domestic content of core materials to 40 percent by 2020 and 70 percent by 2025.

The plan focuses on high-tech fields, one among them being Space. And guess what are their ambitions in this sector? China’s 2015 Defense White Paper refers to space as the “commanding height in international strategic competition”. Commanding Heights refers to the key segments of a national economy, the critical sectors that dominated economic activity.

Let us quickly look at the space missions launched by China.

2016: China makes the fifth manned mission Shenzhou 11, using Long March 2F launch vehicle. This is one step forward in the direction to establish its own space station, ‘Tiangong-II’

2018: China launches Gaofen-11, High earth resolution satellite through Long March 4B launch vehicle. Gaofen is a sub-meter resolution optical satellite. Experts believe that it may be capable of achieving ground-image resolution of 10 cm or less

Chinese state media report that the Gaofen-11 satellite will be used for land surveys, urban planning, road network design, agriculture, and disaster relief, while its data will also be used for the country’s Belt and Road international trade and infrastructure initiative.

2019: China lands Chang’e-4 mission on the far side of the Moon. The landing site for this mission is the Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Earlier, they had put the Queqiao relay satellite at L2 point. Relay satellite help to extend the communication signals coming from the ground-based station to farther distances in space. It is believed that they want to mine Helion (Helium-3) and Tritium on that side of the moon.

So, where does India stand? Think over it and compose an essay, if India’ space program needs a strategic push or not?

The billion-dollar question, that I still haven’t asked is that, how do you launch these satellites into space?

Every satellite needs a launch vehicle. The barrel can contain solid fuel, just as a missile does or it can also contain any other fuel. These fuels are referred to as propellants.  Does this mean, that we can use a missile to launch a satellite? I think, you guessed right.

Space technology is a dual use technology.

For almost every dual use technology, we have a convention or a protocol. Let us take few examples.

IN case of Nuclear, we have the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under the same, a country getting access to Nuclear energy will strictly reserve it for civilian applications and generation of electricity. The nation won’t be able to divert it to make the bomb.

In case of Biotechnology, we have the Cartagena protocol. Under the same, the country will have to create a bio-safety clearing and certification house, before allowing the biotechnology product to escape in the wild.

Similarly, we have the Missile Technology Control Regime. Now since, India has gained membership in MTCR, will it help our Space program? 100% yes.

In case of Cyber and AI, there is no official protocol or treaty or convention. They are still evolving.

Okay, so what are those launch vehicles? In case of India, we have the PSLV and the GSLV. To understand how they are used, let us start with satellite orbits.

Satellites in the low earth orbit are mostly used for optical imaging. This technique is known as remote sensing. The images can be used for any reason. They are launched using PSLV.

Launch Vehicle Type	PSLV
Versions	Regular, Core Alone, XL
Height	44.5m
Diameter	2.8m
Launch Mass	229,000kg (Core Alone) to 320,000kg (XL)
Mass to LEO	3,250kg
Mass to GTO	1,410kg
Mass to SSO	1,100kg – Regular 1,800kg – CA 1,600kg – XL

India has its own satellites like Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series - Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansat etc which provide required data for carrying out various projects. Some of the important projects carried out in the country include Groundwater Prospects Mapping under Drinking Water Mission, Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro meteorology and Land based observations (FASAL), Forest Cover/Type Mapping, Grassland Mapping, Biodiversity Characterisation, Snow & Glacier Studies, Land Use/Cover mapping, Coastal Studies, Coral and Mangroves Studies, Wasteland Mapping etc.

The information generated by large number of projects have been used by various departments, industries and others for different purposes like development planning, monitoring, conservation etc.

Can we use this in agriculture sector?

When the satellites are launched at 35,786 kms from the Earth, their orbital period is 24 hours. Thus, the side of the satellite facing the earth appears to be the same irrespective of whether it is seen morning, afternoon, evening or night. Thus, the satellite appears to be relatively stationary when seen from the Earth. Such satellites are known as Geo-stationary-satellites.

Geo stationary satellites revolve around the Earth in the equatorial plane. When they are at an angle inclined to the equator, they are known as Geo-synchronous satellites. Both the type of Geo satellites are used for communication.

Satellites in Geo orbits are launched using GSLV. The difference between both PSLV and GSLV is this.

GSLV vehicle uses cryogenic engine that is very difficult to master. Cryogenic engine is used in geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle to launch geosynchronous satellites like communication satellites. Unlike PSLV, GSLV launches satellite at a greater height (~36000km). Before India could make it in the year 2013, ISRO depended on European Space Agency and Arianespace for heavy lift launch. This led to foreign dependence + loss of foreign exchange

Why did, India fail to get hands on this technology? This is because it’s a dual use technology. The same cryogenic engine that is used in 3^rd stage of GSLV also fires 3^rd stage of Agni V missile. Hence it comes under MTCR. Before going further, first let us understand this technology step by step

Cryogenic = very low temperature. The rocket engine that makes use of liquid fuel stored at extremely low temperature is called as cryogenic engine. O₂ liquefies at negative-183 Celsius and H₂ at negative-253 degrees Celsius.

Advantages

1.    High Energy per unit mass: So, the amount of fuel to be carried aboard the rockets decreases + more thrust for every kilogram of propellant

2.    Clean Fuels: Hydrogen and oxygen are extremely clean fuels. When they combine, they give out only water. Thus, the rocket is nothing but a high burning steam engine.

Economical & more efficient: Use of oxygen and hydrogen as fuels is very economical, as liquid oxygen costs less than gasoline

The Cryogenic Upper Stage Development Program was initiated in 1989 by ISRO to develop Indigenous Cryogenic Engine of 1 tonne capacity. However irrespective of the repeated number of trails we were unsuccessful in developing the indigenous Cryogenic Engine. India therefore turned to foreign suppliers to get this technology.

India first approached USA, then France and then USSR. In the first two cases, they were ready to provide the engine technology. But the price attached to the same was very high, that India could not afford to pay at that time. India was then, a socialist economy and did not focus on exports to generate foreign exchange. In the case of soviets, the price was very affordable and therefore India decided to deal with the Soviets to get this technology

However, during this time (also known as Cold War), Pakistan played a very important role for USA. It played a liaising role between USA and China, that fructified when President Nixon visited China in the year 1972. Later on, Pakistan also played an important role to drive out the Soviets from Afghanistan, on behest of USA.

This drove, the United States to oppose India’ acquisition of Cryogenic engine to protect the interests of its cute little puppy Pakistan. USA put allegation, that India may use Cryogenic engine to develop Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). IGDMP was proposed in the year 1983 while India was not a signatory of M.T.C.R. (Missile Technology Control Regime).

In 1991 Soviet Union disintegrated and Russia emerged the most powerful country out of the Union. India re-initiated its efforts to negotiate the deal for Cryogenic Engine with Russia. This time Russia strongly supported India’s demand for Cryogenic Engine and agreed to supply 7 Cryogenic Engine to India. Out of which 5 were in Ready to use position and 2 Mock Cryogenic Engine for learning the technology behind the Cryogenic Engine.

In 2001 Government of India (G.O.I) resumed its Cryogenic Upper Stage Development Program (C.U.S.P) and in 2009 we successfully conducted the First test of Indigenous Cryogenic Engine. In 2014 the First successful launch of Indigenous Cryogenic Engine took place in the form of GSAT-14 (Geosynchronous Satellites) By using GSLV-D5 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). This marked the Entry of India into International Cryo Club (ICC). India became the 6th nation in the world after USA, Russia, Japan, France, And China

India shall use semi-cryogenic engine in its Manned Space program, ‘GAGANYAAN’. Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft that is intended to send 3 astronauts to International Space Station (ISS) for a minimum of seven days by 2022, as part of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. It will be for the first time that India will launch its manned mission to space, making the country fourth in line to have sent a human to space. ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle, shall be used for this project.