Indian Moon Rockets: First Look

The Preliminary Lunar Manned Mission Concept (Right) showing the launch vehicle architecture. Credit: ISRO

Back in December, Supernova posted the presentation by ISRO at the IAC 2009. A very less known and highly ambitious part of that presentation was the preliminary concept of an Indian Lunar manned mission. The concept in itself is not very detailed but gives us an insight into what ISRO has in store for the future. More importantly, the concept showcases the future UMLV family (Unified Modular Launch Vehicle) being used to loft the crew vehicle. This is the first time that we have had any insight into the possible architecture of the UMLV family, which will be powered by a Common Liquid Core stage in development.

The first thing that strikes when we look at the preliminary lunar concept are the 2 majestic launch vehicles. These launch vehicles, especially the one that launches the Earth Departure Stage (EDS), is a world beyond the capabilities that India possesses today.

ISRO plans to use two rockets for the manned lunar mission. The first will be a crew launch vehicle with the capability to launch 31 tons to Low Earth orbit. This vehicle with a liftoff weight of 1690 tons, would launch the crew module and the service module.

The second rocket will launch the Earth Departing Stage and the Lunar Descent module. This launch vehicle would be a true Super-heavy lifter with a capability to launch 84 tons into Low Earth orbit. The liftoff weight of this beast would 3075 tons.

ISRO has also given some of the technical details about the launch vehicles. The basis for these launch vehicles (as that of the UMLV family) is the new 2ooo kN Semi-cryogenic engine in development. The architecture of the two vehicles would be :

Crew Launch Vehicle
* Architecture - 4 S230 + SC500 + C60
* Capability - 31 tons to Low Earth Orbit
* Payload - Crew Module (6 tons) + Service Module (25 tons)

Carge Launch Vehicle
* Architecture - 8 S230 + SC800 + C60
* Capability - 84 tons to Low Earth Orbit
* Payload - Earth Departure Stage (67 tons) + Lunar Descent Module (17 tons)

The S230 would be solid boosters with 230 tons of propellants, future descendants of the S200 booster developed for the GSLV-Mk III. The SC500 and SC800 stages would be powered by the Semi-cryogenic engine and containing 500 and 800 tons of propellant respectively. The C60 would be the bleeder expander cycle upper cryogenic stage containing 60 tons of propellant.

The modular architecture of the launch vehicles and that of the whole UMLV family would help in reducing the cost of the rockets. The lunar architecture itself seems to be loosely based on the Constellation Program (which is supposed to be axed this year) architecture.

ISRO is pressing ahead with it's preliminary research on Lunar manned mission irrespective of prospective financial issues of such a high budget mission although the the program itself in full isn't expected to be started anytime before 2020.

Will be back with some analysis on the other part of mission ie beyond the launch vehicles.

Chandrayaan-2 Program updates

Soft-landing scenario on lunar surface. Copyright: ISRO

Rover deployment from the lander after landing on the lunar surface. Copyright: ISRO

Chandrayaan-2, India's next shot to the moon has come a long way since the project was first conceptualized back in first half of this decade. Although some payloads have already been finalized the process is expected to be fully completed in 2 months time. ISRO has had thousands of payload proposals from different countries on the table, from which it will have to finalize the payloads. Afterall the orbiter can accommodate only 50 kg of scientific payload.

The total weight of Chandrayaan-2 at launch will be 2457 kg, this including the lander and the orbiter. The orbiter and lander will be connected by an inter module adapter. The mass of the orbiter will be 1317 kg, of which 830 kg will be propellant for the orbiter and 487 kg will be the actual dry mass of the orbiter. Of 487 kg dry mass of the orbiter, the actual scientific payloads will weigh 50 kg. Only 10 kg of payload space will be open to international space agencies for their payloads.

Now, for the most exciting part. ISRO has gone ahead with the plant soft-land the rover on the lunar surface. The rover will be inside the rover-module of the lunar lander. As explained above the lander will be connected to the orbiter at launch. The total mass of the lander will be 1100 kg.

Out of the 1100 kg lander, 680 kg will be the propellant used for thrusters on the lunar-lander for soft landing. On the lunar surface the lander will weigh 420 kg including the rover and rover-module. Once the lander has landed on the lunar surface the 2 rovers, one Russian and another India will then emerge from the rover-module onto the surface of the moon.

Many of the scientific instruments on the lander/rover have already been finalized. The rover will drill into the lunar soil and obtain samples for analysis. The Regolith Evolved Gas Analyzer (REGA) and Mass Spectrometer will analyze the composition of Lunar soil. Two instruments, a Tunable Diode Laser and a Laser Induced ion Mass Spectrometer will look for the presence of water in the polar shadowed region of the moon.

Presently, ISRO is on-schedule for a 2013 launch of Chandrayaan-2. Chandrayaan-2 will be the stepping stone for a lots of things that in the future that ISRO already has planned for.

Indian Human Spaceflight Program officially disclosed

The Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization officially disclosed the commencement of the Indian Human Spaceflight Program in Bangalore on January 27th, 2010. Dr. Radhakishanan told the reporters that the much awaited approval by the union cabinet was received and that ISRO planned to conduct the first flight in 2016, revised from the previously announced date of 2015.

The Chairman reiterated that ISRO would require 4 years to design the 'orbital vehicle' and another 3 years for testing and unmanned flights. ISRO is in the process of setting up a new astronaut training facility in Bangalore with the help of the Russian Space Agency. The media were also told that ISRO would shortly finalize 2 candidates as astronauts for the 2016 mission. These 2 astronauts would first travel to space aboard a Soyuz in 2013 to get the required experience for the indigenous manned mission 3 years later.

PICTURES: S200, L110 static firing preparation

S200 segment assembly at the new SRB facility at SHAR. Copyright:ISRO

Employee checking the alingnment of S200 on the test bed. Copyright:ISRO

Thrust frame being mated with the head of the motor. Copyright:ISRO

S200on the test bed. Copyright:The Hindu

L110 being readied for February tests. Copyright:The Hindu

Motor test bed. Copyright:ISRO

S200 successfully tested, L110 next

Here is the ISRO press release in full -

Indian Space Research Organisation successfully conducted the static test of its largest solid booster S200 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota today (January 24, 2010). The successful test of S200 makes it the third largest solid booster in the world, next to the RSRM solid booster of Space Shuttle and P230 solid booster of ARIANE-5. The S200 solid booster will form the strap-on stage for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) which is currently under advanced stage of development for launching 4 ton class of communication satellites.

S200 solid booster contains 200 tonnes of solid propellant in three segments. The motor measures 22 meter long and 3.2 meter in diameter. The design, development and successful realisation of S200 solid booster were a pure indigenous effort involving Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and Satish Shawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota with the participation of Indian Industries. The S200 solid booster derived its heritage from the solid boosters developed earlier for the ISRO launch vehicle programme. The preparation and casting of S200 solid booster segments were carried out at the newly established Solid Propellant Plant (SPP) at SDSC, Sriharikota. During the test, the S200 booster was fired for 130 seconds and

generated a peak thrust of about 500 tonnes. The performance of the booster was exactly as predicted. Nearly 600 health parameters were monitored during the test and the initial data indicates normal performance.

Todays successful test of S200 is a major milestone in the solid rocket motor programme of ISRO and a vital step in the development of GSLV Mk III.

Here is the S200 brochure

L110 test to follow S200

L110 cluster engines undergoing testing at LPSC

Full-stage testing of the L110 is to follow the ground firing of S200 later this month. The ground-firing of S200 booster is to take place in the third week of January according to the Chairman of ISRO. This will be followed by the test of the L110 engine in the latter half of January or February at the Liquid Propulsion test facility in Mahendragiri. The Chairman retierated that the first launch of GSLV-Mk III would take place next year.

This test will pave the way for certification of the L110 stage. The L110 is India's first cluster engine stage containing a cluster of 2 Vikas engines similar to those used on the basic GSLV. The cluster engine has already been certified in 2007 and this particular test would be a full-stage test. In many ways, it represents another frontier conquered by the Indian space agency.

The L110 stage generates a thrust of around 1400 kN with a burn time of 240 seconds. The entire stage weighs at 119 tonnes with 9 tins being the empty weight. The stage will ignite 113 seconds after lift-off and burning-out at 312 seconds. The stage is also capable of multiple restarts.

The L110 will in the future be replaced by the common liquid core stage (CLC) powered by the Semi-cryogenic engine under development thus making the GSLV Mk-III more capable and providing a platform to test technologies for the UMLV family.

Ground-firing of S200

Ground-firing of an Ariane-5 SRB at Guiana Space Centre

ISRO is supposed to take the first step towards the launch of GSLV-Mk III by ground-firing the S200 booster in January, 2010. S200 is a major component of the Mk-III, providing the thrust at lift-off of the launch vehicle.

The S200 is the third biggest solid booster of any launch vehicle in active service, after the space Shuttle's SRBs and Ariane-5's EAP. This in a way shows that India is going beyond what was historically thought to be a Soviet-based space program. It's a matter of fact that Soviet and soviet based programs like the Chinese, never use solid propellent on their heavy-launch vehicles. Whereas, it's the western space programs that are famous for their extensive use of solids in heavy-lift vehiclea and crew-launch vehicles.

The S200 is a expendable stage carrying 200 tons of propellant with a lenght of 25 m and diameter of 3.2 m. The thrust at liftoff should be around 7000 kN. But, the average thrust output should be around 4500 kN to go with the stated burn-time of 103-104 seconds.

The ground-firing of the S200 will mark the successful development of 2 stages of the Mk-III, viz the L110 and the S200. The C25 is the final stage that remains. According to reports, ISRO has already finalized the design of CE-20 and that the process of fabrication also seems to have started. Once the engine is completed, its will be tested extensively following which there will be full-stage firing of the C25 stage.

Althought ISRO has quoted a launch of 2011 for the Mk-III, it would be an almost improbable task given the status of the upper stage. Fabrication to certication normally takes around 2-3 years. So, it would be safe to assume that the probable launch date of Mk-III would more-likely be 2012-13.