Re: India Launches Geosynchronous Satellite For Educational Services

From: Dr. Jai Maharaj (usenet_at_mantra.com)
Date: 09/21/04 

Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 08:35:03 GMT

In article <c62ede76.0409202243.6c699619@posting.google.com>,
 nkdatta8839@bigmailbox.net (nkdatta8839) posted:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3672608.stm
>
> BBC News
> Monday, 20 September, 2004, 12:35 GMT 13:35 UK
>
> India launches learning satellite
>
> India has launched its first satellite to be used for expanding the
> country's educational network.
>
> The Edusat, weighing around 2,000kg, will help train teachers and
> provide primary and secondary education by linking classrooms across
> India.
>
> It is hoped the satellite will help revolutionise learning in India by
> taking education to remote classrooms.
>
> About a third of India's billion-plus population cannot read and only
> 13% finish high school.
>
> 'Beautiful bird'
>
> The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) took nearly three years
> to build the $17m satellite.
>
> It was sent into space by India's locally-made geo-synchronous
> satellite launch vehicle from Sriharikota island in southern Andhra
> Pradesh state.
>
> "We have got a perfect launch. I hope in the next few days we will
> have major operations running," PS Goel, director of the satellite
> centre, told reporters.
>
> "It will be another beautiful bird in the sky spreading education."
>
> A spokesman for Isro told the French news agency AFP that universities
> in three Indian states would be linked through the satellite, which
> has a mission life of seven years.
>
> The states are Karnataka in the south, Maharashtra in the west and the
> central state of Madhya Pradesh.
>
> In the second phase, the satellite will link more than 1,000
> classrooms in two more states.
>
> Isro chairman Madhavan Nair said the satellite would help beam
> lectures by eminent persons to classrooms across the country.
>
> Launch history
>
> India launches its own satellites and plans to enter the lucrative
> commercial satellite launch market.
>
> In September 2002, India successfully launched its first weather
> satellite to help the country predict cyclones and storms more
> accurately.
>
> In 2001, it successfully tested its first geostationary launch
> vehicle, which is capable of launching bigger satellites into a higher
> orbit.
>
> India also plans to send a spacecraft to the moon by 2008.
> ==============================================================================
> ==
> http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/21/stories/2004092111440100.htm
>
> The HINDU
> Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004
>
> EDUSAT placed in orbit
>
> SRIHARIKOTA, SEPT. 20. India once again demonstrated that it is a
> world leader in space when its Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch
> Vehicle (GSLV-FO1) raced into the sky from the spaceport at
> Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 4.01 p.m. today and put EDUSAT in a
> perfect orbit 17 minutes later.
>
> This is the third successful flight for the GSLV after the earlier
> successful flights from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota
> in April 2001 and May 2003. For the Indian Space Research Organisation
> (ISRO), this is the 10th successful flight in a row.
> The 1,950-kg EDUSAT is the heaviest satellite launched so far by ISRO.
> EDUSAT is India's first exclusive satellite for educational services.
>
> `Excellent mission'
>
> This is the first operational flight of the GSLV. The previous two
> GSLV flights were developmental missions. G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman,
> ISRO, called it an "excellent" mission. "We did not have any hold at
> all. The entire launch sequence went on as planned. The trajectory was
> unbelievably good."
>
> The success was all the more sweeter because heavy rains and thunder
> clouds threatened to disrupt the launch. There was lightning too. "We
> thought we should postpone the launch," Mr. Nair said. But using a
> radar that ISRO had developed and a balloon launch for measuring the
> height of the cloud and the wind velocity, and thereby redesigning the
> trajectory of the flight, ISRO decided at 8.30 a.m. today to go ahead.
> And the countdown proceeded without any hitch.
>
> Spectacular
>
> The GSLV-FO1 lifted off on the dot at 4.01 p.m., and the giant vehicle
> soaring into the sky on top of balls of orange flames. The three
> stages of the vehicle ignited on schedule and they jettisoned with
> clockwork precision. Seventeen minutes after the lift-off, the third
> cryogenic stage injected EDUSAT into orbit at a velocity of 37,000 km
> an hour. It went into a perfect geo-synchronous transfer orbit with an
> apogee of 35,985 km and a perigee of 180.54 km.
>
> EDUSAT would revolutionise distance education. From a television
> studio, a teacher can teach any subject, and if schools/colleges have
> reception facilities, they can simultaneously listen to him.
> ==============================================================================
> ==
> EDUSAT launched successfully
>
> Sriharikota, Sept. 20 (PTI): EDUSAT, the world's first and India's
> exclusive satellite for educational services, was successfully
> launched from the Space Centre here this evening despite murky weather
> conditions.
>
> The 1950-kg. satellite, the heaviest built by the Indian Space
> Research Organisation, and carried by the 49-metre Geosynchronous
> Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F-01) was placed in the Geosynchronous
> stationary orbit, about 17 minutes after the vehicle's perfect
> take-off at 4.01 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here into the
> murky sky.
>
> The satellite, which will provide a fillip to distance education in
> the country, has a mission life of seven years. It will be co-located
> with Kalpana-1 and INSAT-3C satellites already in orbit. This is the
> first operational flight of GSLV.
>
> Scores of scientists, including the ISRO Chairman, Madhavan Nair, and
> his predecessor, Dr Kasturi Rangan, witnessed the "perfect" launch.
>
> Though in his immediate reaction, Nair said India had once again
> proved that it can undertake satellite projects with "perfection and
> thoroughness" to meet any global standards, at a press briefing later,
> he said the launch took place against "many odds" as the scientists
> were worried over atmospheric conditions.
> "Yesterday, there was heavy downpour and lightning. We virtually
> thought of postponing the launch," Nair said adding "scientists, using
> radar systems, looked at meteorological parameters and by 9.30 am
> today, we took a decision to go ahead with the final countdown."
>
> "This is one of the finest missions ISRO has had. The launch went off
> well without any deviation and on dot," Nair said.
>
> The main motor, and various stages including the cryogenic stage
> supplied by Russia, and all on-board computers performed well as
> planned.
> The scope of the Edusat programmes would be realised in three phases.
> In the first phase, Visvesvariah Technological University in
> Karnataka, Y B Chavan State University in Maharashtra and Rajiv Gandhi
> Technical university in Madhya Pradesh would be covered.
>
> The second phase would see inclusion of two more States and a national
> institution and in the third and final phase, Edusat network would
> become fully operational.
>
> Nair said there was heavy shortage of quality teachers in various
> fields. "There is also need to reach the remote parts of the country
> and providing adult literacy programme. All these are planned to be
> fulfilled by distant connectivity which can be achieved by Edusat."
>
> "We will be able to link various institutions at higher education
> levels, primary schools, secondary schools and also the villages,"
> Nair said adding "we have already linked the Visvesvariah University
> with 100 engineering colleges and the programmes are being conducted
> on a regular basis."
>
> "We have already signed an MOU with IGNOU and will soon be signing
> with All India Council for Technical Education. In the next three
> months, we will sign with 20 major educational institutions in the
> country and discussions are already on with various agencies."
>
> The Edusat has specially been configurated for the audio-visual
> medium, employing digital interactive classrooms and multi-media and
> multi-centric systems.
>
> The satellite will have multiple regional beams covering different
> parts of India -- five Ku-band transponders with spot beams covering,
> northern, north-eastern, eastern, southern and western regions, a
> Ku-band transponder with its 'footprint' covering the mainland and six
> other C-band transponders with their 'footprints' covering entire
> country.
>
> The concept of beaming educational programmes through satellites was
> effectively demonstrated for the first time in India in 1975-76
> through Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE),
> conducted using the American Application Technology Satellite.
>
> Later, with the commissioning of INSAT system in 1983, a variety of
> educational programmes were telecast. With the success of the
> INSAT-based educational services, a need was felt to launch a
> satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services and the ISRO
> conceived the Edusat project in October 2002.
> The cost of the satellite was Rs. 90 crores and that of the launch
> vehicle around Rs.160 crores.
>
> ==============================================================================

Good show!

Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti

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