Venkatachari Jagannathan

1 week ago | orbitaltoday.com | Venkatachari Jagannathan

India’s first human space mission, Gaganyaan programme, has entered its final phase, with the first human spaceflight now scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, said Dr. Jitendra Singh the country’s Minister of State, Department of Space. He also said the Gaganyaan programme has resulted in several civilian spin-off benefits. Following the successful uncrewed test vehicle abort mission named TV-D1 mission, Singh said the second test vehicle mission – TV-D2-will be done later in 2025.

1 week ago | orbitaltoday.com | Venkatachari Jagannathan

India and the United Kingdom on Monday announced the signing of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which in turn would result in both countries slashing the import tariff on a wide variety of items. The UK businesses will benefit from tariff cuts by India on aerospace, automotive, medical devices, electrical circuits, conductors, high end optical products and clean energy products.

1 week ago | rediff.com | Venkatachari Jagannathan

Twice every 12 days, the NISAR satellite will scan nearly all of earth's land and ice surfaces to measure changes in the planet's ecosystems, growth and retreat of its land and sea ice, and deformation of its crust. IMAGE: Work on the NISAR satellite has been completed at the ISRO Satellite Integration and Testing Establishment in Bengaluru, and preparations are under way to transport it to the launch site at the agency's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

2 weeks ago | orbitaltoday.com | Venkatachari Jagannathan

The Indian armed forces that operate about 10-12 satellites can call into service the country’s entire fleet of orbiting satellites in case of need during a war. India has a mix of communication, earth observation, navigation, and scientific satellites, totalling over 50. “Any satellite with a camera can be used for surveillance,” a former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had said some years back.

2 weeks ago | rediff.com | Venkatachari Jagannathan

The need for NavIC was cemented after India was denied access to crucial navigation data from global providers during the 1999 Kargil War. IMAGE: The GSLV-F15 NVS-02 before Launch. India's independent satellite navigation system, NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), will face its acid test if a war breaks out with Pakistan. The risk of war between the two countries increased after the Pakistan sponsored terrorist attack on innocent tourists in Kashmir's Pahalgam killing 26 Indians.