Our memorable visit to ISRO

I never thought that I would have a chance to get a closer look of rockets, that too in our own ground ISRO. I do not know if I would get another opportunity like this unless God bestows some miracles. As we did not take any photo there, I wanted to jot down all our experiences at ISRO, so that some day after many years, I can cherish them vividly.

 

Thanks to my friend Geetha and her brother Mr. Ramkumar for arranging our trip to ISRO.

The day after Pongal was holiday for all of us and fortunately working day at ISRO. So we decided to visit ISRO on that day. To our surprise we were joined by Geetha’s family and 2 more families as well, which made it a techie tour. Now on to ISRO visit.

              We went to the ISRO Museum first to get a glimpse of all the discoveries and concepts related to planetary science and human’s achievements in attempting to explore other planets. It was a news to me that NASA has sent explorers to Jupiter on 1970s itself. Someone was telling that we should not compare achievements of NASA  & ISRO as it would be similar to comparing grandparents and grandchildren. However I am very happy and proud that India is among the only6 countries whi are having infrastructure to launch rockets. That is a big feat for a country like India. We were introduced to concepts of escape velocity, orbits and the two satellite launch vehicles namely Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle (PSLV) and Geo-stationary launching vehicle (GSLV). Though I knew these two names before, now I know the actual purpose of these two. PSLV places a satellite on the polar orbit and which then would scan the earth from North to South. This is primarily used for forecasting purposes. GSLV places a satellite on geo-stationary orbit which means it would face the same part of earth always and are used for communication & broadcasting purposes.

I had many questions about satellite’s age (determined by each country who is launching it), what happens after satellite’s end of life (they are lowered from their orbit and made to destroy & fall over sea) orbit allocation and space debris (managed by an EU organization) and many more. While I was engulfed on these discussions, I heard a thud sound and a cry, by none other than my daughter. While playing she had fallen on the ground and got hurt near her eyebrows. We rushes to ISRO hospital (how can we leave a place without visiting its hospital) and by God’s grace it’s a small bruise. On return we had our lunch at SRO canteen and proceeded to visit many important places.

Firstly, we went to see the block from where all the scientists observe the rocket launch. This is the same place shown in TVs during launch. We were explained how different teams could communicate & confirm their readiness to launch, and some exceptional cases like what  happens when a rocket does not kick off or follow trajectory as expected etc. Then we moved on to rocket building places. There are 3 stages on a rocket which provides the initial thrust, mileage and force to put the satellite on orbit. For this different kinds of combustion fuel are used which has its own pros & cons. Dolid fues are highlt combustive and gives maximum thrust in minimum time. Just a small spark would trigger the combustion and cannot be stopped once ignited. Therefore needs to be properly used. Combustion of liquid fuels can be controlled and provides good mileage of putting the rocket against gravitational force. Cryogenic fuels are those in which combustible gases are highly pressurized and stored in small containers. They enable low space utilization and provide high thrust. However a small leakage would cause great damage. Therefore has to be handled with caution. We came to know that a part had a leakage in the order of mm or nm and led to failure in the rocket launch. Later we visited the rocket launch area. I came to know that there are 2 types of launch pad namely, Build, Transfer, launch and Build on Launch Pad.  As the name implies, former one indicates that the rocket parts are assembled in a place 1 km from the launch pad and then moved to launch pad few days before launch. In this case, the alignment & tuning check needs to be performed again. However it provides the flexibility that whichever rocket is ready for launch can be brought to launch pad. In the latter case, entire rocket building happens on launch pad and the entire support building would move away leaving the rocket alone on the launch pad. I wondered how such a big building would move away on the rails! What a technology achievement & advancement?! Also one launch pad can be used for both PSLV and GSLV satellite launch. During the rocket launch, no one ae allowed to be in the vicinity till 7km distance. It would create huge thunderbolt noise and flames that would make humans get heart attack.

There is a big pit underneath the launch pad which can withstand heavy temperatures, flames and smoke. When we visited the top of the rocket assembly building we could see a nearby tall water tower which I thought used for providing water for the campus. Later came to know that it was built to nullify the effects of high frequency noise generated during initial few seconds of the launch. Otherwise the noise was having an effect over the calibration of satellites placed on the rocket top.

We were totally thrilled to see the places & things in real from where the rocket launch is happening. By now all of us were tired of just visiting these places, just think of those scientists who work round the clock in these places and marked our country on to the global map in space technology.

And, Finally I got answer for my question on “Why Sriharikota?” in the sense what is significant about this place that it has been chosen for launch. The answer appears interesting, that it’s the second best place in earth to launch rocket based on the fact that the co-ordinates are positioned in such a way that with minimal thrust, the Earth’s orbital direction would provide additional force (at no cost) and give the rocket escape velocity to go out of Earth’s gravitational force.

Also it being in East coast of Bay of Bengal has a huge sea space to provide maximum distance to be covered within first stage of rocket (as the remains of first stage needs to be thrown on to sea).

The first best place for rocket launch is French Guiana. We also visited an old Shiva temple near ISRO and came to know that there are so many Siva Lingams unearthed while constructing ISRO, which marked the place to be blessed with God’s wishes.

ISRO with its extraordinary space missions is making us to be a proud India. Best wishes for all their endeavours.