ISRO considering doing more docking tests with Spadex satellites
India’s space agency ISRO has delayed the undocking of its two Spadex satellites as it considers a plan to do more docking tests.
The original plan was to have the chase satellite complete only one docking with the target vehicle, after which the two satellites would separate and spend the next two years doing different work. That plan is being reconsidered.
[Isro chairman V.] Narayanan said in Sriharikota that they have to think of the money involved in such projects and utilise it to the maximum. “Now we are in the process of reviewing when to do the undocking, the power connections and when to totally separate them again and dock again. All these processes are going on. We do not want to undock and leave it,” the Isro chairman said.
“We have loaded five kg of propellant on both the satellites. The propellant is needed for docking and undocking exercises. Currently we have 60 to 70 per cent of the propellant (as of January 29) remaining in the spacecraft. There are going to be a lot of experiments in the docking, undocking, power connection exercises and it is not a one time exercise,” he said.
Sources at ISRO also suggest there may be issues with the docking that still need analysis.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
India’s space agency ISRO has delayed the undocking of its two Spadex satellites as it considers a plan to do more docking tests.
The original plan was to have the chase satellite complete only one docking with the target vehicle, after which the two satellites would separate and spend the next two years doing different work. That plan is being reconsidered.
[Isro chairman V.] Narayanan said in Sriharikota that they have to think of the money involved in such projects and utilise it to the maximum. “Now we are in the process of reviewing when to do the undocking, the power connections and when to totally separate them again and dock again. All these processes are going on. We do not want to undock and leave it,” the Isro chairman said.
“We have loaded five kg of propellant on both the satellites. The propellant is needed for docking and undocking exercises. Currently we have 60 to 70 per cent of the propellant (as of January 29) remaining in the spacecraft. There are going to be a lot of experiments in the docking, undocking, power connection exercises and it is not a one time exercise,” he said.
Sources at ISRO also suggest there may be issues with the docking that still need analysis.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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