[Igor Antunov]

India is revving up plans to become the fourth nation to send humans into space. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today unveiled a critical technology in that endeavor: an indigenously made astronaut capsule.

ISRO is planning to hoist the test capsule into space during the first experimental flight of India’s latest rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. The new rocket, capable of lifting 10 tons into a low-Earth orbit, is slated for liftoff as early as May or June from Sriharikota spaceport on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

ISRO is seeking $2.5 billion from the government for a human space flight program; officials say that astronauts could be sent into space 7 years after final approval is given. The administration of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has so far balked at committing to the pricey project. Instead, it has given ISRO $36 million for the development of critical technologies for human space flight.

India’s human space capsule, fabricated by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, is designed for a weeklong space mission carrying two or three astronauts in a low-Earth orbit. ISRO Chair K. Radhakrishnan says that no human crew or animals will be aboard the capsule during the test.

Until now only Russia, the United States, and China have managed to send humans into Earth orbit. The last Indian in space was Rakesh Sharma, who took part in an Indo-Russian mission. “I have no doubt that ISRO, riding on its past success, will be able to overcome technological challenges and come out trumps,” he tells ScienceInsider.

http://news.sciencemag.org/asiapacific/ ... ut-capsule

I'm glad to see this, hope they send a man into space sometime this decade. The more the merrier.

[Decky]

The more the merrier.

But what about the space debris? What about that!

[Igor Antunov]

The. More. The. Merrier.

[Decky]

I'm not too sure about that.

[Igor Antunov]

Meh it will work itself out.

[brianm]

Meh it will work itself out.

That's nice...

Actually there are features that can be added to launchers to reduce the problem, but I have no idea if India uses them.

[Igor Antunov]

You could have a space scavenger tug that goes around intercepting larger pieces of debris, could be lucrative as there is much precious metal in some of those defunct sats and stations. Package the goodies and fling them into ocean for retrieval by ship.

[brianm]

You could have a space scavenger tug that goes around intercepting larger pieces of debris, could be lucrative as there is much precious metal in some of those defunct sats and stations. Package the goodies and fling them into ocean for retrieval by ship.

Whatever you tip into re-entry will just burn up.

If you mean collecting items and bringing them back I can't see that coming close to justifying the cost.

[Igor Antunov]

Encase them in cheap disposable material so they survive re-entry. Build the capsules out of material in orbit so you don't have to lug it up. Solid gold, platinum, various lightweight alloys would be very lucrative by the ton.

[brianm]

Encase them in cheap disposable material so they survive re-entry. Build the capsules out of material in orbit so you don't have to lug it up. Solid gold, platinum, various lightweight alloys would be very lucrative by the ton.

What material would that be?

And you think they should build some form of recycling centre / factory in space? And then find just the materials they need for some form of re-entry capsule - despite the fact that satellites are not made of materials adequate for the task (because the whole point is that they are designed not to come back).

Then you have to get the objects from their orbits into the one of the factory. This means sending up engines to move them and fuel to supply them. And people to man the factory with regular supply runs and handovers.

And you expect to get those materials by the ton?

Sorry, but I just don't see how its going to work.

For removal of debris we should be looking at something like this (at least for larger objects):-

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Safe_ ... e_999.html

And for specific salvaging operations this:-

http://www.spacenews.com/article/milita ... n-on-orbit

You could try matching the two together but you're still looking at a (very great) minority of satellites with stuff worth recovering. For example rocket stages and debris from collisions are very unlikely to yield much.

Most would still end up burning up - and thats still doesn't solve the fragment problem (although it does help to prevent it getting worse).

[Igor Antunov]

One could build a new space station from the debris in orbit. Russia's upcoming piloted orbital assembly complex will be studying the viability of that. It will be a tug in itself (the station will be designed to move around, and will have the setup to assemble larger structures in orbit).

Just need an orbital refinery to process the raw debris recovered and a small manufactory to create parts. All this could be moved into the moons orbit once the debris field is depleted and then you can mine the moon and easily shift shit up and down as needed. We need something partly self sufficient in space, otherwise we will never rid ourselves off this poxy planet.

[Groves]

DARPA already has a program for the space debris. There's some interesting information on related subjects in this volume of High Frontier.