CNSA: China National Space Administration, Spacecraft

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China National Space Administration (CNSA) is the national space agency of China. It is responsible for the national space program and for planning and development of space activities.

China Space Agencies
CNSA - Logo

CNSA and China Aerospace Corporation (CASC) assumed the authority[when?] over space development efforts previously held by the Ministry of Aerospace Industry.

It is a subordinate agency of the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), itself a subordinate agency of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

 

Key Description:

Budget: ~ US$ 11 Billion (2018 est.)

Founded: 22 April 1993

Headquarters: Haidian District, Beijing, China

Administrator: Zhang Kejian

Parent Organisation: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Abbreviation: CNSA

Official Website

 

History:

CNSA is an agency created in 1993 when the Ministry of Aerospace Industry was split into CNSA and the China Aerospace Corporation (CASC).

The former was to be responsible for policy, while the latter was to be responsible for execution. This arrangement proved somewhat unsatisfactory, as these two agencies were, in effect, one large agency, sharing both personnel and management.

As part of a massive restructuring in 1998, CASC was split into a number of smaller state-owned companies. The intention appeared to have been to create a system similar to that characteristic of Western defense procurement in which entities which are government agencies, setting operational policy, would then contract out their operational requirements to entities which were government-owned, but not government-managed.

 

Function:

CNSA was established as a government institution to develop and fulfill China's due international obligations, with the approval by the 8th National People's Congress of China (NPC).

The Ninth NPC assigned CNSA as an internal structure of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). CNSA assumes the following main responsibilities: signing governmental agreements in the space area on behalf of organizations, inter-governmental scientific and technical exchanges; and also being in charge of the enforcement of national space policies and managing the national space science, technology and industry.

Up to now, China has signed governmental space cooperation agreements with Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and some other countries. Significant achievements have been scored in the bilateral and multilateral and technology exchanges and cooperation.

Administrators of CNSA are appointed by the State Council.

 

List of Chinese Astronauts:

As of 2013, eleven Chinese people have traveled to space (alphabetical order):

  • Fei Junlong
  • Jing Haipeng
  • Liu Boming
  • Liu Wang
  • Liu Yang
  • Nie Haisheng
  • Yang Liwei
  • Zhai Zhigang
  • Wang Yaping
  • Zhang Xiaoguang
  • Chen Dong

 

Know More: ISRO, NASA, JAXA, ISS

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Space Agency: List of Top 10 Space Research Organisation

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As of 2020, 72 different government space agency are in existence; 14 of those have launch capability.

Six government space agencies—the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA or Roscosmos)—have full launch capabilities; these include the ability to launch and recover multiple satellites, deploy cryogenic rocket engines and operate space probes.

Top Space Agencies 2020

 

List of Top 10 Space Agency in the World 2020

1.) NASA (National Aeronautics And Space Administration) Space Agency

 

Key Description:

Headquarters: Two Independence Square, Washington, D.C., United States

Preceding agency: NACA (1915–1958)

Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Founded: 1 October 1958, United States

Administered by: Jim Bridenstine

Subsidiaries: NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Official Website: www.nasa.gov

Type: Space agency

Jurisdiction: US Federal Government

Motto: For the Benefit of All

Employees: 17,373 (2020)

Annual Budget: Increase US$22.629 billion (2020)

Agency Executives: Jim Bridenstine, Administrator, James, Morhard, Deputy Administrator, Jeff DeWit, Chief Financial Officer

Social Network: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr

 

 

2.) ESA (European Space Agency) Space Agency

 

Key Description:

Headquarters: Paris, Île-de-France, France

Budget: €6.68 billion; (~US$7.43 billion) (2020)

Founded: 30 May 1975, Europe

CEO: Johann-Dietrich Wörner (1 Jul 2015–)

Primary spaceport: Guiana Space Centre

Founders: Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark

Official Website: www.esa.int

Social Network: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

 

 

3.) Roscosmos Space Agency

 

Key Description of MOSCOW Space Agency:

Budget: 176 billion rubles (2020) ($2.77 billion)

Headquarters Location: Moscow, Russia

Parent organisation: The Russian Federation government

Founded: 25 February 1992

Abbreviation: ROSCOSMOS

Subsidiaries: Progress Rocket Space Centre

Official Website: www.roscosmos.ru

Social Network: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

 

 

4.) China National Space Administration or CNSA

 

Key Description:

Budget: ~ US$ 11 Billion (2018 est.)

Founded: 22 April 1993

Headquarters: Haidian District, Beijing, China

Administrator: Zhang Kejian

Parent Organisation: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Abbreviation: CNSA

Official Website: www.cnsa.gov.cn

 

 

5.) JAXA or Japanese Aerospace Xploration Agency

 

Key Description:

Headquarters: Chofu, Tokyo, Japan

Annual Budget: 18,270 crores JPY ($1.71 billion, 2017)

Parent Organisation: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Founded: 1 October 2003

Motto: One JAXA

Administrator: Hiroshi Yamakawa

Official Website: Japan Aerospace Agencies

Social Network: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram

 

6.) ISRO or Indian Space Research Organization

 

Key Description of ISRO:

Abbreviation: ISRO

Founder: Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai

Director: Kailasavadivoo Sivan

Formation: 15 August 1969

Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Subsidiary: Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

Administrator: K. Sivan (Chairman)

Primary spaceport: Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC/SHAR), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

Parent organisation: Department of Space

Budget: Increase ₹13,479.47 crore (US$1.9 billion)

Staff: 17,222 as of 2020

Social Network: Facebook, Twitter

Official Website: www.isro.gov.in

 

 

7.) SpaceX

 

Key Description:

Trade name: SpaceX

Type: Private

Industry: Aerospace

Founded: May 6, 2002

Headquarters: Hawthorne, California, U.S.

Key people: Elon Musk (founder, CEO, and CTO)
Gwynne Shotwell (President and COO)

Products: Several launch vehicles, Several rocket engines
Dragon capsules, Starship (in development), Starlink, ASDS landing platforms

Services: Orbital rocket launch

Owner: Elon Musk Trust (54% equity; 78% voting control)

Number of employees: 8,000 (November 2019)

Website: www.space.com

Guiana Space Centre: History, Launches, Annual Budget

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The Guiana Space Centre (CSG) ) is a French and European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Operational since 1968, it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport. It fulfills the two major geographical requirements of such a site:

It is near the equator, so that less energy is required to maneuver a spacecraft into an equatorial, geostationary orbit.

It has open sea to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures are unlikely to fall on human habitations. Rockets launch to the east to take advantage of the angular momentum provided by Earth's rotation.

The European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), and the commercial companies Arianespace and Azercosmos conduct launches from Kourou.

This was the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

 

Key Description:

Formed: 14 April 1964

Jurisdiction: Government of France

Headquarters Kourou, French Guiana, France

Employees: 1,525 direct (2011)
7,500 indirect (2011)

Agency Executive: Didier Faivre, director

Parent Agency: ESA/CNES

Social Network: Facebook

Official Website: www.cnes.csg.fr

 

History:

The location was selected in 1964 to become the spaceport of France. In 1975, France offered to share Kourou with ESA. Commercial launches are bought also by non-European companies. ESA pays two thirds of the spaceport's annual budget and has also financed the upgrades made during the development of the Ariane launchers.

On 4 April 2017, the centre was occupied by 30 labour union leaders in the midst of the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana, but was taken back on 24 April 2017.

 

List of Space Agencies in Europe:

  • European Space Operations Centre (ESOC)
  • European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC)
  • European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
  • European Astronaut Centre (EAC)
  • European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT)
  • ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN)
  • European Space Tracking Network (ESTRACK)
  • European Space Agency (ESA)

 

Canadian Space Agency (CSA): Annual Budget, Mission

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The Canadian Space Agency is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the Canadian Space Agency Act. The agency reports to the federal Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development.

Canadian Space Agency logo

The current president is Sylvain Laporte, who took the position March 9, 2015. The CSA's headquarters are located at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Quebec. The agency also has offices in Ottawa, Ontario, at the David Florida Laboratory, and small liaison offices in Houston; Washington, D.C.; and Paris.

Establishment of Canadian Space Agency

 

Key Description:

Founded: 1 March 1989

Annual Budget: 33.2 crores CAD (2018–2019)

Number of employees: 670

Jurisdiction: Canada

Minister Responsible: Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development

Agency Executives: Sylvain Laporte, President; Sarah  Gallagher, Science Advisor

Official Website

Social Network: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube

 

History:

The origins of the Canadian upper atmosphere and space program can be traced back to the end of the Second World War Between 1945 and 1960, Canada undertook a number of small launcher and satellite projects under the aegis of defence research, including the development of the Black Brant rocket as well as series of advanced studies examining both orbital rendezvous and re-entry.

In 1957, scientists and engineers at the Canadian Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment (DRTE) under the leadership of John H. Chapman embarked on a project initially known simply as S-27 or the Topside Sounder Project. This work would soon lead to the development of Canada's first satellite known as Alouette 1.

With the launch of Alouette 1 in September 1962, Canada became the third country to put an artificial satellite into space.

At the time, Canada only possessed upper atmospheric launch capabilities (sounding rockets), therefore, Alouette 1 was sent aloft by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California.

The technical excellence of the satellite, which lasted for ten years instead of the expected one, prompted the further study of the ionosphere with the joint Canadian-designed, U.S.-launched ISIS satellite program.

This undertaking was designated an International Milestone of Electrical Engineering by IEEE in 1993. The launch of Anik A-1 in 1972 made Canada the first country in the world to establish its own domestic geostationary communication satellite network.

These and other space-related activities in the 1980s compelled the Canadian government to promulgate the Canadian Space Agency Act, which established the Canadian Space Agency. The Act received royal assent on May 10, 1990, and came into force on December 14, 1990.

The mandate of the Canadian Space Agency is to promote the peaceful use and development of space, to advance the knowledge of space through science and to ensure that space science and technology provide social and economic benefits for Canadians. The Canadian Space Agency's mission statement says that the agency is committed to leading the development and application of space knowledge for the benefit of Canadians and humanity.

In 1999 the CSA was moved from project-based to "A-base" funding and given a fixed annual budget of $300 million. The actual budget varies from year to year due to additional earmarks and special projects. In 2009, Dr. Nicole Buckley was appointed Chief Scientist of Life Science.

 

Presidents:

  • 1989 – May 4, 1992—Larkin Kerwin
  • May 4, 1992 – July 15, 1994—Roland Doré
  • November 21, 1994 – 2001—William MacDonald Evans
  • November 22, 2001 – November 28, 2005—Marc Garneau
  • April 12, 2007 – December 31, 2007—Larry J. Boisvert
  • January 1, 2008 - September 2, 2008—Guy Bujold
  • September 2, 2008 – February 1, 2013—Steven MacLean
  • February 2, 2013 – August 5, 2013—Gilles Leclerc (interim)
  • August 6, 2013 – November 3, 2014—Walter Natynczyk
  • November 3, 2014 - March 9, 2015—Luc Brûlé, Interim since March 9, 2015—Sylvain Laporte

 

List of Canadian Astronauts:

 

Name Launch date Notes
Marc Garneau October 5, 1984 First Canadian in space
Roberta Bondar January 22, 1992 First Canadian woman in space
Steven MacLean October 22, 1992
Chris Hadfield November 12, 1995 Only Canadian to visit Mir
Marc Garneau May 19, 1996 First Canadian to return to space
Robert Thirsk June 20, 1996
Bjarni Tryggvason August 7, 1997
Dafydd Williams April 17, 1998
Julie Payette May 27, 1999 First Canadian to visit the International Space Station
Marc Garneau November 30, 2000 ISS mission. Return to space (third visit)
Chris Hadfield April 19, 2001 ISS mission. Return to space (second visit). First spacewalk by a Canadian
Steven MacLean September 9, 2006 ISS mission. Return to space (second visit); spacewalk
Dafydd Williams August 27, 2007 ISS mission. Return to space (second visit); spacewalk
Robert Thirsk May 27, 2009 ISS Expedition 20 and Expedition 21. Return to space (second visit). First flight on a Russian launch vehicle by a Canadian. First Canadian on a permanent ISS crew. First time two Canadians were in space simultaneously (with Payette)
Julie Payette July 15, 2009 ISS mission. First Canadian woman to return to space. First time two Canadians were in space simultaneously (with Thirsk). Largest gathering of humans in space, as seven STS-127 arrivals join 6 already on ISS. Largest gathering of nationalities in space, as USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Belgium have astronauts together on ISS. Last Canadian to fly on a US Space Shuttle.
Guy Laliberté September 30, 2009 First Canadian space tourist, visited ISS and returned aboard TMA-14.
Chris Hadfield December 19, 2012 ISS Expedition 34 and Expedition 35. Return to space (third visit). First Canadian commander of a spacecraft, first Canadian Commander of a permanent ISS crew.
David Saint-Jacques December 20, 2018 ISS Expedition 58 and Expedition 59.

 

List of Canadian Satellites:

 

Name Launched Retired Purpose
Alouette 1 September 29, 1962 1972 Ionosphere research
Alouette 2 November 29, 1965 August 1, 1975 Ionosphere research
ISIS 1 January 30, 1969 1990 Ionosphere research
ISIS 2 April 1, 1971 1990 Ionosphere research
Hermes January 17, 1976 November, 1979 Experimental communications satellite
RADARSAT-1 November 4, 1995 March 29, 2013 Commercial Earth observation satellite
MOST June 30, 2003 March, 2019 Space telescope
SCISAT-1 August 12, 2003 In service Earth observation satellite (atmosphere)
RADARSAT-2 December 14, 2007 In service Commercial Earth observation satellite
NEOSSat February 25, 2013 In service Monitoring of near-Earth objects[29]
Sapphire February 25, 2013 In service Military space surveillance[29][30]
BRITE February 25, 2013 In service Space telescope
CASSIOPE September 29, 2013 In service Ionosphere research, experimental telecommunications
M3MSat June 22, 2016 In service Communications satellite
RADARSAT Constellation June 12, 2019 In service Commercial Earth observation satellite

 

Canadian Space Program:

The Mobile Base System just before Canadarm2 installed it on the Mobile Transporter during STS-111
The Canadian space program is administered by the Canadian Space Agency.

Canada has contributed technology, expertise and personnel to the world space effort, especially in collaboration with ESA and NASA.

In addition to its astronauts and satellites, some of the most notable Canadian technological contributions to space exploration include the Canadarm on the Space Shuttle and Canadarm2 on the International Space Station.

Canada's contribution to the International Space Station is the $1.3 billion Mobile Servicing System. This consists of Canadarm2 (SSRMS), Dextre (SPDM), mobile base system (MBS) and multiple robotics workstations that together make up the Mobile Servicing System on the ISS.

The Canadarm, Canadarm2 and Dextre all employ the Advanced Space Vision System, which allows more efficient use of the robotic arms.

Another Canadian technology of note is the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, which was an extension for the original Canadarm used to inspect the Space Shuttle's thermal protection system for damage while in orbit.

Before the Space Shuttle's retirement, the boom was modified for use with Canadarm2; STS-134 (the Space Shuttle program's penultimate mission) left it for use on the ISS.

 

Cooperation with the European Space Agency

The CSA has been a cooperating state of the European Space Agency (ESA) since the 1970s and has several formal and informal partnerships and collaborative programs with space agencies in other countries, such as NASA, ISRO, JAXA, and SNSA.

Canada's collaboration with Europe in space activities predated both the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

From 1968, Canada held observer status in the European Space Conference (ESC), a ministerial-level organization set up to determine future European space activities, and it continued in this limited role after ESA was created in 1975.

Since January 1, 1979, Canada has had the special status of a "Cooperating State" with the ESA, paying for the privilege and also investing in working time and providing scientific instruments that are placed on ESA probes. Canada is allowed to participate in optional programs; it also has to contribute to the General Budget but not as much as associate membership entail. This status was unique at the time and remains so today.

ESA: Annual Budget, Current Mission, Founders, Activities

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European Space Agency
Logo: European Space Agency

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space.

Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,200 in 2018 and an annual budget of about €6.68 billion (~US$7.43 billion) in 2020.

ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station programme); the launch and operation of uncrewed exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.

The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle.

The agency is also working with NASA to manufacture the Orion Spacecraft service module that will fly on the Space Launch System.

The agency's facilities are distributed among the following centres:

  • ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands;
  • Earth Observation missions at ESA Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati, Italy;
  • ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany;
  • the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany;
  • the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT), a research institute created in 2009, is located in Harwell, England;
  • and the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) is located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain.

The European Space Agency Science Programme is a long-term programme of space science and space exploration missions.

 

Key Description:

Headquarters: Paris, Île-de-France, France

Budget: €6.68 billion; (~US$7.43 billion) (2020)

Founded: 30 May 1975, Europe

CEO: Johann-Dietrich Wörner (1 Jul 2015–)

Primary spaceport: Guiana Space Centre

Founders: Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark

Official Website

Social Network: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

 

Foundation:

ESA in its current form was founded with the ESA Convention in 1975, when ESRO was merged with ELDO.

ESA had ten founding member states:

  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • France
  • West Germany
  • Italy
  • The Netherlands
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The United Kingdom.

These signed the ESA Convention in 1975 and deposited the instruments of ratification by 1980, when the convention came into force. During this interval the agency functioned in a de facto fashion. ESA launched its first major scientific mission in 1975, Cos-B, a space probe monitoring gamma-ray emissions in the universe, which was first worked on by ESRO.

 

Activities:

ESA collaborated with NASA on the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), the world's first high-orbit telescope, which was launched in 1978 and operated successfully for 18 years.

A number of successful Earth-orbit projects followed, and in 1986 ESA began Giotto, its first deep-space mission, to study the comets Halley and Grigg–Skjellerup. Hipparcos, a star-mapping mission, was launched in 1989 and in the 1990s SOHO, Ulysses and the Hubble Space Telescope were all jointly carried out with NASA.

Later scientific missions in cooperation with NASA include the Cassini–Huygens space probe, to which ESA contributed by building the Titan landing module Huygens.

The beginning of the new millennium saw ESA become, along with agencies like NASA, JAXA, ISRO, the CSA and Roscosmos, one of the major participants in scientific space research.

Although ESA had relied on co-operation with NASA in previous decades, especially the 1990s, changed circumstances (such as tough legal restrictions on information sharing by the United States military) led to decisions to rely more on itself and on co-operation with Russia. A 2011 press issue thus stated

Notable ESA programs include SMART-1, a probe testing cutting-edge space propulsion technology, the Mars Express and Venus Express missions, as well as the development of the Ariane 5 rocket and its role in the ISS partnership.

ESA maintains its scientific and research projects mainly for astronomy-space missions such as Corot, launched on 27 December 2006, a milestone in the search for exoplanets.

On 21 January 2019, ArianeGroup and Arianespace announced a one-year contract with ESA to study and prepare for a mission to mine the Moon for lunar regolith.

 

Mission:

ESA is responsible for setting a unified space and related industrial policy, recommending space objectives to the member states, and integrating national programs like satellite development, into the European program as much as possible.

ESA's purpose shall be to provide for, and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation among the European States in space research and technology and their space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes and for operational space applications systems

Jean-Jacques Dordain – ESA's Director General (2003–2015) – outlined the European Space Agency's mission in a 2003 interview

Today space activities have pursued the benefit of citizens, and citizens are asking for a better quality of life on Earth. They want greater security and economic wealth, but they also want to pursue their dreams, to increase their knowledge, and they want younger people to be attracted to the pursuit of science and technology.

I think that space can do all of this: it can produce a higher quality of life, better security, more economic wealth, and also fulfill our citizens' dreams and thirst for knowledge, and attract the young generation. This is the reason space exploration is an integral part of overall space activities. It has always been so, and it will be even more important in the future.

 

Activities And Programmes:

Activities
According to the ESA website, the activities are:

  • Observing the Earth
  • Human Spaceflight
  • Launchers
  • Navigation
  • Space Science
  • Space Engineering & Technology
  • Operations
  • Telecommunications & Integrated Applications
  • Preparing for the Future
  • Space for Climate

Programmes

  • Copernicus Programme
  • Cosmic Vision
  • ExoMars
  • FAST20XX
  • Galileo
  • Horizon 2000
  • Living Planet Programme

Budgets are organised as Programmes (British spelling retained because it is a term of official documents). These are either Mandatory or Optional.

Mandatory
Every member country must contribute to these programmes:

  • Technology Development Element Programme
  • Science Core Technology Programme
  • General Study Programme
  • European Component Initiative

Optional

  • Depending on their individual choices the countries can contribute to the following programmes, listed according to:
  • Launchers
  • Earth Observation
  • Human Spaceflight and Exploration
  • Telecommunications
  • Navigation
  • Space Situational Awareness
  • Technology

 

Astronaut Names:

The astronauts of the European Space Agency are:

  • France - Jean-François Clervoy
  • Italy - Samantha Cristoforetti
  • Belgium - Frank De Winne
  • Spain - Pedro Duque
  • Germany - Reinhold Ewald
  • France - Léopold Eyharts
  • Germany - Alexander Gerst
  • Italy - Umberto Guidoni
  • Sweden - Christer Fuglesang
  • Netherlands - André Kuipers
  • Germany - Matthias Maurer
  • Denmark - Andreas Mogensen
  • Italy - Paolo Nespoli
  • Switzerland - Claude Nicollier
  • Italy - Luca Parmitano
  • United Kingdom - Timothy Peake
  • France - Philippe Perrin
  • France - Thomas Pesquet
  • Germany - Thomas Reiter
  • Germany - Hans Schlegel
  • Germany - Gerhard Thiele
  • France - Michel Tognini
  • Italy - Roberto Vittori

 

Cooperation With Other Countries And Organisations:

ESA has signed co-operation agreements with the following states that currently neither plan to integrate as tightly with ESA institutions as Canada, nor envision future membership of ESA: Argentina, Brazil, China, India (for the Chandrayan mission), Russia and Turkey.

Additionally, ESA has joint projects with the European Union, NASA of the United States and is participating in the International Space Station together with the United States (NASA), Russia and Japan (JAXA).

Roscosmos: Spacecraft, Current Program, Subsidiaries

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Roscosmos
Roscosmos Logo

The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities commonly known as Roscosmos is a state corporation responsible for the wide range and types of space flights and cosmonautics programs for the Russian Federation.

Originally part of the Federal Space Agency the corporation evolved and consolidated itself into a national state corporation on 28 December 2015 through a presidential decree.

Before 1992, Roscosmos was a part of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

The headquarters of Roscosmos are located in Moscow, while the main Mission Control space center site is in the nearby city of Korolyov as well as the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center located in Star City of Moscow Oblast.

The launch facilities used are Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (with most launches taking place there, both crewed and uncrewed), and Vostochny Cosmodrome being built in the Russian Far East in Amur Oblast.

The current director since May 2018 is Dmitry Rogozin. In 2015 the Russian government merged Roscosmos with the United Rocket and Space Corporation, the re-nationalized Russian space industry, to create the Roscosmos State Corporation.

On February 22, 2019, the Roscosmos Director, Dmitry Rogozin, has announced the construction start of new headquarters in Moscow, Zavodskaya Street 18: The National Space Centre.

Russian Space Agency

 

Key Description:

Budget: 176 billion rubles (2020) ($2.77 billion)

Headquarters Location: Moscow, Russia

Parent organisation: The Russian Federation government

Founded: 25 February 1992

Abbreviation: ROSCOSMOS

Subsidiaries: Progress Rocket Space Centre

Official Website

Social Network: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

 

History:

The Soviet space program did not have central executive agencies. Instead, its organizational architecture was multi-centered; it was the design bureaus and the council of designers that had the most say, not the political leadership.

The creation of a central agency after the separation of Russia from the Soviet Union was therefore a new development. The Russian Space Agency was formed on February 25, 1992, by a decree of President Yeltsin. Yuri Koptev, who had previously worked with designing Mars landers at NPO Lavochkin, became the agency's first director.

In the early years, the agency suffered from lack of authority as the powerful design bureaus fought to protect their own spheres of operation and to survive.

For example, the decision to keep Mir in operation beyond 1999 was not taken by the agency; instead, it was made by the private shareholder board of the Energia design bureau. Another example is that the decision to develop the new Angara rocket was rather a function of Khrunichev's ability to attract resources than a conscious long-term decision by the agency.

 

Current programs

ISS involvement: The Zarya module was the first module of the ISS, launched in 1998.

The Russian Space Agency is one of the partners in the International Space Station (ISS) program; it contributed the core space modules Zarya and Zvezda, which were both launched by Proton rockets and later were joined by NASA's Unity Module.

The Rassvet module was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis and will be primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. The Nauka module is the last component of the ISS, due to be launched in November 2019.

Roscosmos is furthermore responsible for expedition crew launches by Soyuz-TMA spacecraft and resupplies the space station with Progress space transporters.

After the initial ISS contract with NASA expired, RKA and NASA, with the approval of the US government, entered into a space contract running until 2011, according to which Roscosmos will sell NASA spots on Soyuz spacecraft for approximately $21 million per person each way (thus $42 million to and back from the ISS per person) as well as provide Progress transport flights ($50 million per Progress as outlined in the Exploration Systems Architecture Study).

RKA has announced that according to this arrangement, crewed Soyuz flights will be doubled to 4 per year and Progress flights also doubled to 8 per year beginning in 2008.

RKA also provides space tourism for fare-paying passengers to ISS through the Space Adventures company. As of 2009, six space tourists have contracted with Roscosmos and have flown into space, each for an estimated fee of at least $20 million (USD).

 

Science programs: RKA operates a number of programs for earth science, communication, and scientific research. Future projects include the Soyuz successor, the Prospective Piloted Transport System, scientific robotic missions to one of the Mars moons as well as an increase in Lunar orbit research satellites.

  • Luna-Glob Moon orbiter with penetrators, planned in 2025
  • Venera-D Venus lander, planned in 2025
  • Fobos-Grunt Mars mission, lost in low Earth orbit in 2012

 

Rockets: Roscosmos uses a family of several launch rockets, the most famous of them being the R-7, commonly known as the Soyuz rocket that is capable of launching about 7.5 tons into low Earth orbit (LEO).

The Proton rocket (or UR-500K) has a lift capacity of over 20 tons to LEO. Smaller rockets include Rokot and other Stations.

Currently rocket development encompasses both a new rocket system, Angara, as well as enhancements of the Soyuz rocket, Soyuz-2 and Soyuz-2-3. Two modifications of the Soyuz, the Soyuz-2.1a and Soyuz-2.1b have already been successfully tested, enhancing the launch capacity to 8.5 tons to LEO.

 

New piloted spacecraft: One of RKA's projects that was widely covered in the media in 2005 was Kliper, a small lifting body reusable spacecraft.

While Roscosmos had reached out to ESA and JAXA as well as others to share development costs of the project, it also stated that it will go forward with the project even without the support of other space agencies. This statement was backed by the approval of its budget for 2006–2015, which includes the necessary funding of Kliper.

However, the Kliper program was cancelled in July 2006, and has been replaced by the new Orel project. As of 2016 no crafts were launched.

 

Space Systems: "Resurs-P" is a series of Russian commercial Earth observation satellites capable of acquiring high-resolution imagery (resolution up to 1.0 m). The spacecraft is operated by Roscosmos as a replacement of the Resurs-DK No.1 satellite.

Create HEO space system "Arctic" to address the hydrological and meteorological problems in the Arctic region and the northern areas of the Earth, with the help of two spacecraft "Arktika-M" and in the future within the system can create a communications satellite "Arktika-MS" and radar satellites "Arktika-R."

The launch of two satellites "Obzor-R" (Review-R) Remote Sensing of the Earth, with the AESA radar and four spacecraft "Obzor-O" (Review-O) to capture the Earth's surface in normal and infrared light in a broad swath of 80 km with a resolution of 10 meters. The first two satellites of the projects planned for launch in 2015.

Gonets: Civilian low Earth orbit communication satellite system. On 2016, the system consists of 13 satellites (12 Gonets-M and 1 Gonets-D1).

 

Launch control:

The military counterpart of the RKA is the Military Space Forces (VKO). The VKO controls Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome launch facility. The RKA and VKO share control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the RKA reimburses the VKO for the wages of many of the flight controllers during civilian launches.

The RKA and VKO also share control of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. It has been announced that Russia is to build another spaceport in Tsiolkovsky, Amur Oblast. The Vostochny Cosmodrome is scheduled to be finished by 2018.

 

Subsidiaries

As of 2020, Roscosmos had the following subsidiaries:

  • United Rocket and Space Corporation
  • Strategicheskiye Punkty Upravleniya
  • Glavcosmos
  • Salavat Chemical Plant
  • Turbonasos
  • Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology
  • IPK Mashpribor
  • NPO Iskra
  • Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau
  • All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics
  • Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev
  • Russian Space Systems
  • Sistemy precizionnogo priborostroenia
  • Progress Rocket Space Centre
  • Chemical Automatics Design Bureau
  • NPO Energomash
  • Proton-PM
  • Tekhnicheskiy Tsentr Novator
  • AO EKHO
  • NIIMP-K
  • TSKB Geofizika
  • Osoboye Konstruktorskoye Byuro Protivopozharnoy
  • Tekhniki
  • Tsentralnoye Konstruktorskoye Byuro Transportnogo
  • Mashinostroyeniya
  • NII komandnykh priborov
  • NPO Avtomatiki
  • Zlatoust Machine-Building Plant
  • Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant
  • Miass Machine-Building Plant
  • Moskovskiy zavod elektromekhanicheskoy apparatury
  • Nauchno-issledovatelskiy Institut Elektromekhaniki
  • NPO Novator
  • PKP IRIS
  • NPP Geofizika-Kosmos
  • NPP Kvant
  • NPP Polyus
  • Ispytatelnyy tekhnicheskiy tsentr - NPO PM
  • NPO PM - Maloye Konstruktorskoye Byuro
  • NPO PM - Razvitiye
  • Sibpromproyekt
  • Scientific Research Institute of Precision Instruments
  • NIIFI
  • NPO Izmeritelnoy Tekhniki
  • OKB MEI
  • 106 Experimental Optical and Mechanical Plant
  • OAO Bazalt
  • Nauchno-inzhenernyy tsentr elektrotekhnicheskogo
  • universiteta
  • Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
  • NPO Tekhnomash
  • Keldysh Research Center
  • Arsenal Design Bureau
  • MOKB Mars
  • NTTS Okhrana
  • NII Mashinostroyeniya
  • NPO Lavochkin
  • Scientific Production Association Of Automation And
  • Instrument-Building
  • OKB Fakel
  • Organizatsiya Agat
  • TsNIIMash
  • Centre for Operation of Space Ground-based Infrastructure
  • (TsENKI)
  • NTTS Zarya
  • Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Centre
  • (Gagarin TsPK)
  • NITs RKP

 

 

NACA: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

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NACA - National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NACA was an initialism, i.e. it was pronounced as individual letters, rather than as a whole word (as was NASA during the early years after being established).

Among other advancements, NACA research and development produced the NACA duct, a type of air intake used in modern automotive applications, the NACA cowling, and several series of NACA airfoils which are still used in aircraft manufacturing.

During World War II, NACA was described as "The Force Behind Our Air Supremacy" due to its key role in producing working superchargers for high altitude bombers, and for producing the laminar wing profiles for the North American P-51 Mustang. NACA was also key in developing the area rule that is used on all modern supersonic aircraft, and conducted the key compressibility research that enabled the Bell X-1 to break the sound barrier.

 

Key Description:

Founder: Woodrow Wilson

Founded: 3 March 1915

Headquarters Location: Washington, D.C., United States

Ceased Operations: 1 October 1958

Superseding Agency: NASA

Dissolved: October 1, 1958

Jurisdiction: Federal government of the United States

 

Origin:

NACA was established by the federal government through enabling legislation as an emergency measure during World War I to promote industry, academic, and government coordination on war-related projects.

It was modeled on similar national agencies found in Europe: the French L'Etablissement Central de l'Aérostation Militaire in Meudon (now Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales), the German Aerodynamic Laboratory of the University of Göttingen, and the Russian Aerodynamic Institute of Koutchino (replaced in 1918 with the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), which is still in existence). The most influential agency upon which the NACA was based was the British Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

In December 1912, President William Howard Taft had appointed a National Aerodynamical Laboratory Commission chaired by Robert S. Woodward, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Legislation was introduced in both houses of Congress early in January 1913 to approve the commission, but when it came to a vote, the legislation was defeated.

Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, took up the effort, and in January 1915, Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, and Representative Ernest W. Roberts introduced identical resolutions recommending the creation of an advisory committee as outlined by Walcott. The purpose of the committee was "to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution, and to determine the problems which should be experimentally attacked and to discuss their solution and their application to practical questions." Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote that he "heartily [endorsed] the principle" on which the legislation was based. Walcott suggested the tactic of adding the resolution to the Naval Appropriations Bill.

According to one source, "The enabling legislation for the NACA slipped through almost unnoticed as a rider attached to the Naval Appropriation Bill, on March 3, 1915." The committee of 12 people, all unpaid, were allocated a budget of $5,000 per year.

President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law the same day, thus formally creating the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, as it was called in the legislation, on the last day of the 63rd Congress.

The act of Congress creating NACA, approved March 3, 1915, reads, "...It shall be the duty of the advisory committee for aeronautics to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution.

 

Research:

The NACA Test Force at the High-Speed Flight Station in Edwards, California. The white aircraft in the foreground is a Douglas Skyrocket.

On January 29, 1920, President Wilson appointed pioneering flier and aviation engineer Orville Wright to NACA's board. By the early 1920s, it had adopted a new and more ambitious mission: to promote military and civilian aviation through applied research that looked beyond current needs. NACA researchers pursued this mission through the agency's impressive collection of in-house wind tunnels, engine test stands, and flight test facilities. Commercial and military clients were also permitted to use NACA facilities on a contract basis.

Facilities:

  • Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (Hampton, Virginia)
  • Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (Moffett Field)
  • Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory (Lewis Research Center)
  • Muroc Flight Test Unit (Edwards Air Force Base)

 

Transformation into NASA:

Special Committee on Space Technology: Special Committee on Space Technology in 1958: Wernher von Braun; fourth from the left, Hendrik Wade Bode
On November 21, 1957, Hugh Dryden, NACA's director, established the Special Committee on Space Technology.[16] The committee, also called the Stever Committee after its chairman, Guyford Stever, was a special steering committee that was formed with the mandate to coordinate various branches of the federal government, private companies as well as universities within the United States with NACA's objectives and also harness their expertise in order to develop a space program.

Wernher von Braun, technical director at the US Army's Ballistic Missile Agency would have a Jupiter C rocket ready to launch a satellite in 1956, only to have it delayed, and the Soviets would launch Sputnik 1 in October 1957.

On January 14, 1958, Dryden published "A National Research Program for Space Technology," which stated

  • It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a nation as well as military necessity that this challenge (Sputnik) be met by an energetic program of research and development for the conquest of space.
  • It is accordingly proposed that the scientific research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency working in close cooperation with the applied research and development groups required for weapon systems development by the military. The pattern to be followed is that already developed by the NACA and the military services.
  • The NACA is capable, by rapid extension and expansion of its effort, of providing leadership in space technology.

On March 5, 1958, James Killian, who chaired the President's Science Advisory Committee, wrote a memorandum to the President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Titled, "Organization for Civil Space Programs," it encouraged the President to sanction the creation of NASA. He wrote that a civil space program should be based on a "strengthened and redesignated" NACA, indicating that NACA was a "going Federal research agency" with 7,500 employees and $300 million worth of facilities, which could expand its research program "with a minimum of delay."

 

Chairmen:

  • George P. Scriven (United States Army) (1915–1916)
  • William F. Durand (Stanford University) (1916–1918)
  • John R. Freeman (consultant) (1918–1919)
  • Charles Doolittle Walcott (Smithsonian Institution) (1920–1927)
  • Joseph Sweetman Ames (Johns Hopkins University) (1927–1939)
  • Vannevar Bush (Carnegie Institution) (1940–1941)
  • Jerome C. Hunsaker (Navy, MIT) (1941–1956)
  • James H. Doolittle (Shell Oil) (1957–1958)

ISS – International Space Station: Purpose, Achievement

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The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a multi-national collaborative project between five participating space agencies:

The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.

ISS Sections
International Space Station

The ISS serves as a micro-gravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific experiments are conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields.

The station is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

It is the largest artificial object in space and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit, regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth's surface.

It maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda Service Module or visiting spacecraft. The ISS circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.

The station is divided into two sections: the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), operated by Russia; and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations. Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024, but had previously proposed using elements of the Russian segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK. As of December 2018, the station is expected to operate until 2030.

The first ISS component was launched in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving on 2 November 2000. Since then, the station has been continuously occupied for 19 years and 215 days.

This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by the Mir space station. The latest major pressurized module was fitted in 2011, with an experimental inflatable space habitat added in 2016.

Development and assembly of the station continues, with several major new Russian elements scheduled for launch starting in 2020. The ISS consists of pressurized habitation modules, structural trusses, photovoltaic solar arrays, thermal radiators, docking ports, experiment bays and robotic arms. Major ISS modules have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets and US Space Shuttles.

The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US.

The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress, the US Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, and formerly the European Automated Transfer Vehicle.

The Dragon spacecraft allows the return of pressurized cargo to Earth (downmass), which is used, for example, to repatriate scientific experiments for further analysis. The Soyuz return capsule has minimal down-mass capability next to the astronauts.

As of September 2019, 239 astronauts, cosmonauts, and space tourists from 20 different nations have visited the space station, many of them multiple times. The United States sent 151 people, Russia sent 47, nine were Japanese, eight Canadian, five Italian, four French, three German, and one each from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

ISS Total Cost

 

Key Description:

Speed on Orbit: 7.66 km/s

View on Maps: google.com/maps/space/iss

Orbit Height: 408 km

Length: 73.0 m (239.4 ft)

Width: 109.0 m (357.5 ft)

Cost: 15,000 crores USD

Call Sign: Alpha, Station

Crew Fully crewed: 6

Currently aboard: 5

Launch: 20 November 1998

Mass: 419,725 kg (925,335 lb)

Length: 73.0 m (239.4 ft)

Width: 109.0 m (357.5 ft)

Pressurised volume: 915.6 m3 (32,333 cu ft)

Atmospheric Pressure 101.3 kPa (14.7 psi; 1.0 atm), Oxygen 21%, nitrogen 79%

Perigee Altitude: 408 km (253.5 mi) AMSL

Apogee Altitude: 410 km (254.8 mi) AMSL

Orbital Inclination: 51.64°

Orbital Speed 7.66 km/s
(27,600 km/h; 17,100 mph)

Orbital Period 92.68 minutes

Orbits Per Day: 15.54

Orbit Epoch: 14 May 2019 13:09:29 UTC

Days in Orbit: 21 years, 6 months, 15 days
(4 June 2020)

Days Occupied: 19 years, 7 months, 2 days
(4 June 2020)

No. of Orbits: 116,178 as of May 2019
Orbital decay 2 km/month

 

Purpose:

The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids.

However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial memorandum of understanding between NASA and Roscosmos have come to fruition.

In the 2010 United States National Space Policy, the ISS was given additional roles of serving commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes.

 

Mission Controls:

The components of the ISS are operated and monitored by their respective space agencies at mission control centres across the globe, including:

Roscosmos's Mission Control Center at Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, controls the Russian Orbital Segment which handles Guidance, Navigation and Control for the entire Station, in addition to individual Soyuz and Progress missions.

ESA's ATV Control Centre, at the Toulouse Space Centre (CST) in Toulouse, France, controls flights of the uncrewed European Automated Transfer Vehicle.

JAXA's JEM Control Center and HTV Control Center at Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC) are responsible for operating the Kibō complex and all flights of the White Stork HTV Cargo spacecraft, respectively.

NASA's Mission Control Center at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, serves as the primary control facility for the United States segment of the ISS.

NASA's Payload Operations and Integration Center at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, coordinates payload operations in the USOS.

ESA's Columbus Control Centre at the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, manages the European Columbus research laboratory.[6]

CSA's MSS Control at Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada, controls and monitors the Mobile Servicing System, or Canadarm2.

 

International co-operation:

Involving five space programs and fifteen countries,the International Space Station is the most politically and legally complex space exploration program in history.

The 1998 Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement sets forth the primary framework for international cooperation among the parties.

A series of subsequent agreements govern other aspects of the station, ranging from jurisdictional issues to a code of conduct among visiting astronauts.

Participating countries:

European Space Agency:

  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom

 

Cost:

The ISS has been described as the most expensive single item ever constructed. As of 2010 the total cost was US$150 billion.

This includes NASA's budget of $58.7 billion (inflation-unadjusted) for the station from 1985 to 2015 ($72.4 billion in 2010 dollars),

Russia's $12 billion, Europe's $5 billion, Japan's $5 billion, Canada's $2 billion, and the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station, estimated at $1.4 billion each, or $50.4 billion in total.

Assuming 20,000 person-days of use from 2000 to 2015 by two- to six-person crews, each person-day would cost $7.5 million, less than half the inflation-adjusted $19.6 million ($5.5 million before inflation) per person-day of Skylab.

Arianespace: Top Satellite Launch Company in 2020

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Arianespace SA is a multinational company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme.

The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy-lift Ariane 5 for dual launches to geostationary transfer orbit, the Soyuz-2 as a medium-lift alternative, and the solid-fueled Vega for lighter payloads.

Arianespace france
Arianespace France - Logo

As of May 2017, Arianespace had launched more than 550 satellites in 254 launches over 36 years (236 Ariane missions minus the first 8 flights handled by CNES, 17 Soyuz-2 missions and 9 Vega missions).

The first commercial flight managed by the new entity was Spacenet F1 launched on 23 May 1984. Arianespace uses the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana as its main launch site.

Through shareholding in Starsem, it can also offer commercial Soyuz launches from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. It has its headquarters in Évry-Courcouronnes, Essonne, France

 

 

Key Description of Arianespace:

CEO: Stéphane Israël (22 Apr 2013–)

Headquarters: Courcouronnes, France

Parent organization: ArianeGroup

Revenue: 143.3 crores EUR (2015)

Founder: Frédéric d'Allest

Founded: 1980

Official Website

Social Network: YouTube, Twitter

 

History of Arianespace:

The formation of Arianespace SA is closely associated with the desire of several European nations to pursue joint collaboration in the field of space exploration and the formation of a pan-national organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), to oversee such undertaking during 1973.

Prior to the ESA's formation, France had been lobbying for the development of a new European expendable launch system to serve as a replacement for the Europa rocket.

Accordingly, one of the first programmes launched by the ESA was the Ariane heavy launcher.

The express purpose of this launcher was to facilitate the delivery of commercial satellites into geosynchronous orbit

France was the largest stakeholder in the Ariane development programme.

French aerospace manufacturer Aérospatiale served as the prime contractor and held responsibility for performing the integration of all sections of the vehicle, while French engine manufacturer Société Européenne de Propulsion (SEP) provided both the first and second stage engines (the third stage engines were produced by Air Liquide and German aerospace manufacturer MBB).

Other major companies involved included the French electronics firm Matra, Swedish manufacturer Volvo, and German aircraft producer Dornier Flugzeugwerke.

Development of the third stage was a major focus point for the project - prior to Ariane, only the United States had ever flown a launcher that utilised hydrogen-powered upper stages.

During 2002, the ESA announced the Arianespace Soyuz programme in cooperation with Russia; a launch site for Soyuz was constructed as the Guiana Space Centre, while the Soyuz launch vehicle was modified for use at the site.

On 4 February 2005, both funding and final approval for the initiative were granted. Arianespace had offered launch services on the modified Soyuz ST-B to its clients.

On 21 October 2011, Arianespace launched the first Soyuz rocket ever from outside former Soviet territory. The payload consisted of two Galileo navigation satellites.

Since 2011, Arianespace has ordered a total of 23 Soyuz rockets, enough to cover its needs until 2019 at a pace of three to four launches per year.

On 21 January 2019, Ariane Group and Arianespace announced that it had signed a one-year contract with the ESA to study and prepare for a mission to the Moon to mine regolith.

In 2020, Arianespace suspended operations for nearly two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Operations were suspended on 18 March and are, as of 29 April, expected to resume on 11 May.The return to operations will observe a number of new health and safety guidelines including social distancing in the workplace.

 

 

Company And Infrastructure:

 

Country Total share Shareholder Capital
Belgium 3.36% SABCA 2.71%
Thales Alenia Space Belgium 0.33%
Safran Aero Boosters [fr] 0.32%
France 64.10%
ArianeGroup 62.10%
Air Liquide SA 1.89%
Clemessy [fr] 0.11%
CIE Deutsche <0.01%
Germany 19.85% ArianeGroup 11.59%
MT Aerospace [de] AG 8.26%
Italy 3.38% Avio S.p.A. 3.38%
Netherlands 1.94% Airbus Defence and Space B.V. 1.94%
Norway 0.11% Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS 0.11%
Spain 2.14% Airbus Defence and Space SAU 2.03%
CRISA 0.11%
Sweden 2.45% GKN Aerospace Sweden AB 1.63%
RUAG Space AB 0.82%
Switzerland 2.67% RUAG Schweiz AG 2.67%

 

 

Department of Space: List of Agencies And Institutes

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The Department of Space (DoS) (अंतरिक्ष विभाग)  is an Indian government department responsible for administration of the Indian space program.

DoS - Separtmen of Space

The Indian space program under the DoS aims to promote the development and application of space science and technology for the socio-economic benefit of the country.

It includes two major satellite systems, INSAT for communication, television broadcasting and meteorological services, and Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) system for resources monitoring and management.

It has also developed two satellite launch vehicles Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) to place IRS and INSAT class satellites in orbit.

 

Key Description Department of Space:

Jurisdiction: Government of India

Headquarters: Antariksh Bhavan, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

First executive: Vikram Sarabhai

Current executive: Kailasavadivoo Sivan

Founder: Government of India

Founded: June 1972

Annual budget: ₹13,479 crore (US$1.9 billion) (2020–21 est.)

Ministers Responsible: Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India

Deputy Ministers Responsible: Dr. Jitendra Singh (Minister of State)

Department Executive: Kailasavadivoo Sivan, Chairman

Parent Department: Prime Minister Office

Child Department: Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)

Website: DOS

 

Agencies and institutes of Indian Department of Space:

Organization chart showing structure of the DOS.

The Department of Space manages the following agencies and institutes:

1.) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – The primary research and development arm of the DoS.

  • Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota.
  • ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore.
  • Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad.
  • National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad.
  • ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU), Ahmedabad.
  • Master Control Facility (MCF), Hassan.
  • ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore.
  • Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), Bangalore.
  • Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun.

2.) Antrix Corporation – The marketing arm of ISRO.

3.) Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.

4.) National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), Gadanki.

5.) North-Eastern Space Applications Centre[5] (NE-SAC), Umiam.

6.) Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali.

7.) Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram – India's space university.

 

History:

In 1961, the Government of India and Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru entrusted the responsibility for space research and for the peaceful use of outer space to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), then under the leadership of Dr. Homi J. Bhabha.

In 1962, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) set up Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), with Dr. Vikram Sarabhai as chairman, to organise a national space programme.

In 1969, (INCOSPAR) was reconstituted as an advisory body under the India National Science Academy (INSA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation was established. The Government of India constituted the Space Commission and established the Department of Space (DoS) in 1972 and brought ISRO under DoS management on 1 June 1972.

Dr. Kailasavadivoo Sivan is the current chairman, Space Commission, Secretary, Department of Space. Vanditha Sharma is the Additional Secretary of the department.