Techno-commercial evaluation of 3 shortlisted bids seeking the contract for manufacturing 5 #PSLVs — @isro workhorse for nearly 30yrs — has been done by @NSIL_India. This takes process of industry building it one step closer to realisation. 1/n
@NSIL_India is now working out work-share modalities and thereby, the costing. A crucial meeting is expected to be scheduled this week, following which the price bids will be opened before the awarding of the contract. 2/n
As reported by me earlier, the three entities are: A consortium of HAL and L&T; a consortium comprising BEL, Adani-led Alpha Design and BEML, and the third is BHEL which is competing as a single firm. 3/n
Given the complexity involved, Isro is expected to still carry out some part of the work for these missions even as a majority of the work will be done by the industry that bags the contract. 4/n
A senior official from @NSIL_India told me: “...PSLV is a very complex system. Doing the entire costing and identifying the responsibilities and thereby the share of cost, is being worked out. Because eventually the total mission cost will include all of these things.” 5/n
Another source said that there are two major components NSIL is looking at: The industry’s scope of work and Isro’s scope of work. 6/n
“While the industry will realise each of the 4 stages, some strategic items like separation systems, pyro, intertial systems etc will lie with @isro. Processes relating to mission ops — trajectory design, launch campaign etc will have to be done by Isro,” the source said. 7/n
The official, while stating @isro workshare is expected to be only around 20%, said: “...We’re even looking at asking the industry to do the first-stage stacking on the launchpad with Isro guidance, while the remaining stages will be done by Isro… 8/n
…Maybe after the first three vehicles have successfully carried out missions, we would consider allowing private players to do all four stages.” 9/n
As per the department of space (DoS), the contract will not only boost the Make-in-India initiative of the Centre, but will also enhance Isro’s ability to launch more satellites each year. 10/n
Both NSIL and DoS, however, are also mindful of the need to maintain the PSLV’s reputation given that all of the commercial business, especially foreign launches, depends on it. 11/n
“We cannot afford a PSLV mission to fail given all that is at stake. All measures will be in place to ensure that the launch vehicle continues to have its reputation of being an extremely reliable rocket… 12/n
...While the industry will do the quality checks at the time of hardware realisation, QA (quality assessment) will be done by Isro which will issue a QA certification before accepting hardware,” the official added. 13/n
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In a new paper, Indian researchers have found evidence that the global #COVID19 #lockdowns in 2020 may have had an impact as far away as #Moon — its surface temperature dipped! 1/n
A study published in the ‘Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters’, accessed by TOI, reveals that lunar surface temperatures showed an anomalous dip during the strictest lockdown period of April-May 2020. 2/n
K Durga Prasad & G Ambily (in 1st post pic) from @isro PRL analysed night-time surface temperatures at six different sites — 2 locations of Oceanus Procellarum, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Imbrium, Mare Tranquillitatis, & Mare Crisium — on Moon’s nearside between 2017 and 2023. 3/n
In multiple firsts, #Chandrayaan3 has detected 250+ seismic signals on Moon’s south polar region, including 50 distinct ones with no correlation to activity of rover’s (#Pragyan) movement or other instruments’ ops but could be possibly linked to #Moonquakes. 1/n
This marks the first collection of seismic data from Moon’s southern polar region and the first such data anywhere on the lunar surface since the #Apollo era. 2/n
This experiment by Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), a scientific instrument aboard Vikram lander, was conducted at the landing site of 69.37° South and 32.32° East. 3/n
Today, @isro said it accomplished another significant milestone on March 21, when the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (#POEM3) successfully re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in a controlled manner, leaving minimal orbital debris. 1/n
Pic: Isro
#POEM3 was part of the #PSLVC58 mission that launched #XPoSat on Jan 1, 2024. After deploying satellites into their intended orbits, the spent rocket stage was transformed into a stabilised platform for conducting experiments. 2/n
“The last stage of PSLV or POEM was deorbited from 650km to 350 km, which facilitated its early reentry, and was passivated to remove residual propellants to minimise any accidental break-up risks,” Isro said. 3/n
In what astronomers are calling “unexpected” but “beautiful surprise”, @IIABengaluru Indian Astronomical Observatory (#IAO) in #Hanle & Merak, Ladakh, captured stunning images of an intense red-coloured aurora on Nov 5.
Pics: IIA
The IAO, operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, is renowned for its astronomical research and observations. 2/n
Auroras, typically observed at high latitudes like Scandinavia, are a breathtaking curtain of light caused by the interaction between the Earth’s magnetosphere and incoming solar wind carrying charged particles and magnetic fields. 3/n
As @isro burns the midnight oil on Earth, waiting to hear again from #Vikram & #Pragyan, principal investigators of instruments on the two have begun sifting through data for new findings. 1/n
Among many things the global scientific community is expected to learn from Vikram and Pragyan’s work before they went to sleep is new knowledge about the lunar soil, which will be useful for future missions, including ambitious projects aiming to send humans back to #Moon. 2/n
“It would have been easy if there was a way we could know if they would wake up, but we have to wait and see how systems behave after Sunrise,” Isro chairman S Somanath said. 3/n
On a day India’s solar sat began its 1.5 mn-km journey, its lunar mission achieved all its objectives, paving the way for @isro to put #Vikram & #Pragyan to sleep on Sunday. Read on for exclusive details from project director P Veeramuthuvel. 1/n
Sunday, which is the 12th day since India achieved the historic soft-landing on the lunar surface, will see both Vikram and Pragyan retire for the night, Chandrayaan-3 project director P Veeramuthuvel told me. 2/n
Isro late on Saturday said: “The rover completed its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into Sleep mode. #APXS & #LIBS payloads are turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander.” 3/n