ESA to provide ground station communications support for India’s manned Gaganyaan missions
The new colonial movement: The European Space Agency (ESA) has now signed an agreement with India’s space agency ISRO whereby ESA will provide ground station communications support for India’s manned Gaganyaan missions.
The first unmanned test flights are planned for next year, with the first manned Gaganyaan mission targeting 2026.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The new colonial movement: The European Space Agency (ESA) has now signed an agreement with India’s space agency ISRO whereby ESA will provide ground station communications support for India’s manned Gaganyaan missions.
The first unmanned test flights are planned for next year, with the first manned Gaganyaan mission targeting 2026.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
This is a good deal on India’s part.
It could also presage other forms of cooperation between India and Europe as the two have broadly complementary space programs. With Gaganyaan, India will have manned spaceflight capability years before Europe could – if, indeed, it ever decides to develop any such. But Europe does have a more powerful launch vehicle – Ariane 6 – than anything the Indians have now or might have sooner than roughly a decade hence. And the Indians intend to build a LEO space station while Europe has built, and continues to build, space station modules only for others and not – thus far — for itself. Europe also has companies that intend to field space station cargo resupply vehicles with downmass capability relatively soon. By throwing in together, ISRO and ESA could build a bigger and flossier LEO space station sooner than either could do so on its own and would also, in combination have all the ancillaries needed to operate it.
This also gives India more consistent access to their crews. I was fascinated to read about the early Russian / US partnership on Mir as they prepared to build the ISS and how due to the stations construction they only had comms while it passed certain points in the US and Russia via Ham Radio.
India having ground station relay in Europe will give them much longer communication windows than if they just had communications when passing over India.
I am wondering however, if StarLink won’t soon be leveraged by space agencies around the world as an existing low latency / high bandwidth communications channel with radios to ground stations being more of a backup system.
Your point about Starlink is a good one. But one should never count overmuch on the obviousness and goodness of an idea to carry the day when governments are involved.