Pradeep's Space Newsletter #26

MOM plays hide-n-seek, sometimes

Edgar Kaiser is an amateur ham radio operator (according to his Twitter profile) who has been monitoring radio signals from India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and sharing them via Twitter.

He raised an alarm on June 21 when there was no signal received from MOM since June 2, 2021.

Edgar Kaiser @df2mz

I had been checking for MOM's daily 10 min routine transmissions a couple of times in the last few weeks and also this afternoon but haven't seen the signal again. Last time I saw a signal from MOM was on June 2nd. I will keep on watching out for MOM.

Edgar Kaiser @df2mz

MOM showed extended activity today. It probably started with the curved trace before 12:30, then stopped and came back at 13:30. The emission ended 14:45 which is consistent with the usual short daily 10 min emission. https://t.co/vEOJsOYa49

This led to a chain conversation about this topic among a few Indian tweeps (Twitter people). While these discussions were on, Times of India journalist Chethan Kumar shared an update from ISRO:

Chethan Kumar @Chethan_Dash

Update: There's been some chatter on health of #MOM (mars orbiter mission) and why it isn't tansmitting. I've gathered that @isro has intentionally turned off payloads. "MOM not in favourable place. Payloads will be turned on when it is." Isro says both sat & systems healthy.

ISRO does not provide updates on the status of any spacecraft. Hence, we rely on amateur satellite watchers and radio frequency observers to get some of these updates. They perform yeoman’s service to space watchers like me in this regard.

This saga, though, ended with good news from Edgar himself. He shared a detection of signal once again from MOM signalling that it was well and alive.

Edgar Kaiser @df2mz

This is very likely a 10 min beep from MOM again. It is some 2 hours earlier than usual but I have seen deviations from the schedule before. Welcome back MOM!

Welcome back, indeed, MOM.

---

Space Reads

• ISRO shared news of a result from a Chandrayaan-2 payload called the Solar X-Ray Monitor (SXM) about the solar corona. The last two news reports from ISRO have been very good at sharing news results and explaining the science in detail.

• Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian private aerospace company that is building a private launch vehicle has shared news of the successful test of it’s third stage Kalam-100 engine.

  Skyroot Aerospace @SkyrootA

  In a major milestone, we successfully completed the Proof Pressure Test (PPT) of Vikram-1's 3rd stage 'Kalam-100'. This ultra-light & high-strength carbon composite case was tested to 66 atmospheres of pressure. A great moment for Team Skyroot! #makeinindia #space

  

• Listen to the NewSpace India podcast episode with Nitish from Astrogate Labs. It’s lovely to see Indian companies working in areas where ISRO doesn’t. Also, it’s lovely to meet someone who sees beauty in communications satellites where most are fascinated by beautiful pictures from Earth observation satellites.

• I enjoyed reading a power-packed version of Jatan Mehta’s Moon Monday issue #32. His tweet summarizes it best:

Jatan Mehta @uncertainquark

So glad to have @openlunar, @Epsilon3Inc, and @SWISSAPOLLO1 kindly support Moon Monday, my one-of-a-kind Moon exploration newsletter that's free, with no ads! 🌗 If you like my work too, support me to keep it going: jatan.space/#support 🚀

Jatan Mehta @uncertainquark

Last week in Moon exploration was 🔥 → China and Russia reveal Moonbase plans → NASA’s SLS rocket stacking up for launch → Japan passes space resources bill → @mastenspace teases a cool Moon water miner → @openlunar presents to @UNOOSA and more! 🚀 https://t.co/KPn7No9sV5

• After r/ISRO, there is now a sub-Reddit to track private space companies in India. Hoping to see similar community building around following private space companies in r/IndiaInSpace as we see in r/ISRO.