GSLV Mark-III - India Breaks in to Elite Space Club

The first experimental flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III registered success as it lifted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on the dot at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, taking India much closer to realising the dream of manned space flight.

The mission control centre erupted in smiles and claps and the scientists hugged each other, as the GSLV Mark III moved a step closer to its first development flight with the functional C25 cryogenic stage.

Also known as LVM3/CARE, the suborbital experimental mission was intended to test the vehicle’s performance during the critical atmospheric phase of its flight and this carried a passive (non-functional) cryogenic upper stage.

The vehicle, exactly five-and-a-half minutes after take-off, carried its payload — the 3,775-kg crew-module atmospheric re-entry experiment (CARE) — to the intended height of 126 km. Two massive S-200 solid strap-on boosters, each carrying 207 tonnes of solid propellants, ignited at lift-off and separated 153.5 seconds later. The L110 liquid stage ignited 120 seconds after lift-off.

“This new launch vehicle performed very well and was a great success. We had an unmanned crew module to understand re-entry characteristics. That went off successfully and the crew module splashed as expected in the Bay of Bengal,” said Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K. Radhakrishnan from the mission control centre.

With the module gently landing in the Andaman Sea, about 1,600 km from Sriharikota, the GSLV Mk-III X/CARE mission concluded successfully. “As it made its way back into our atmosphere, the parachutes performed as per the speed that we expected,” said S. Unnikrishnan Nair, Project Director, Human Spaceflight Programme.

The former ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan, who was present, said, “ Every GSLV should go higher not only physically, but mentally too.”

It has been a glorious year for the Indian Space Research Organisation. The successful launch of Mangalyaan into Mars orbit on September 24 on its maiden attempt was the crowning glory. On December 18, the space organisation followed it up with another stupendous success with the first experimental launch of a GSLV Mark III vehicle and the safe splashdown of an unmanned crew module in the Bay of Bengal off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after re-entry into the atmosphere. These two achievements best exemplify the maturing of the Indian space programme and its capability to take the country’s space missions to greater heights. The experimental flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III carrying a Crew module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment (CARE) as its payload is remarkable for a few reasons. Unlike Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launches, GSLV launch history has been trouble-prone. Making it all the more challenging is the fact that the GSLV Mark III vehicle is heavier, taller and more advanced than others. The rocket has the capability to put into orbit communication satellites that are as heavy as 4 tonnes — twice as heavy as the ones that are currently carried by GSLV rockets. Once the new vehicle becomes fully operational, India may well stop relying on other countries to launch satellites weighing up to 4 tonnes. The space organisation is confident of launching in two years a developmental flight of this vehicle with a fully operational cryogenic engine.

Thirty long years after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel into space aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, India has now come a step closer to realising its long-held dream of sending humans into space, with the successful test flight of GSLV Mark III and the safe splashdown of the unmanned crew module. The capsule performed as expected after re-entry into the atmosphere and, remarkably, decelerated to 7 metres a second before splashing into the Bay of Bengal. This is the first time India had ever tested the deployment of parachutes for deceleration. But more than understanding the re-entry characteristics of the crew module, the primary objective of the current mission was to test the new design of the rocket, particularly at the time of lift-off and passage through the atmosphere. The fact that there was little deviation from the flight path during its entire course till it reached an altitude of 126 km, was proof that the two large solid boosters fired simultaneously at take-off. Also, the vehicle withstood the atmospheric loading as it travelled through the atmosphere. Tall and heavy rockets encounter greater atmospheric loading than smaller vehicles.

Researchers at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will analyze the data recorded by nearly 200 sensors in the dummy crew module of Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mark-III), which reached Tamil Nadu's Kamarajar Port on Sunday, said a senior ISRO official.

S Somanath, project director, GSLV-Mark III told a leading news agency, "The crew module has around 200 sensors to record various aspects of the flight. Our team at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvanthapuram will study the data."

The crew module consists of a static recorder, which inspects the various aspects: thermal, acoustics, velocity, electronics performance, and more such.

On December 18, ISRO successfully launched its heaviest rocket ever—GSLV Mark-III—with an experimental crew module. With this, the Indian space agency will now be able to send astronauts to explore the deep dark web of outer space.

The 630-tonne rocket and human crew module of ISRO were lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota exactly at 9:30 am (IST). Few minutes after this, the crew module separated from the rocket at an altitude of 126 km and re-entered Earth's atmosphere (about 80 km from sea level). And then, it descended in a ballistic mode and splashed down into the Bay of Bengal, some 180 km from Indira Point, which is the southern tip of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, reported PTI.

The total budget of the experimental mission carried out by the Indian space agency was Rs 155 crore, and this includes the cost of crew module as well.

Mangalyaan - India's Journey to Mars

Mangalyaan cost $74 million, making it the world's cheapest interplanetary mission

Everyone sat glued to their seats, anxious and tense at the Mission Operations Complex-2 (MOX-2), the nerve entre of India’s Mars mission on Wednesday morning. There was just one question on everybody’s mind: will it happen?

The answer came through Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan’s intercom. Mission Director V. Kesava Raju had given the thumbs up. The Chairman nodded calmly, went up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and spoke a few words. A jubilant Mr. Modi hugged him, raised a fist and patted him on the back.

The gesture made it official. At 7.59 a.m., India had accomplished a gigantic feat of putting a spacecraft in orbit around Mars in its first attempt.

Around 150 ISRO engineers at MOX-2 and the neighbouring Mission Analysis Centre (MOX-1), where the media waited, broke into applause. “MOM successfully enters Martian orbit,” ISRO flashed on its monitors.

Dr. Radhakrishnan said, “We have done our best. India is great.”

The tryst with the Red Planet came 10 months after the ISRO launched its first orbiter to Mars on November 5 last year. But the final critical moment was at 7.17 a.m., when the main Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) and the eight small thrusters on the orbiter ignited simultaneously and enabled the crucial manoeuvre.

All the engines fired flawlessly for 24 minutes and reduced the spacecraft’s velocity by 1.09 km per second; this contained the spacecraft in an orbit around Mars.

Praise for feat

Mr. Modi commended the ISRO scientists on “their incredible” feat. “MOM has met Mars. India has successfully reached Mars. History has been created today. We have reached the unknown and achieved the impossible,” he exulted.

“I am living my dream,” said MOM Project Director S. Arunan. Mr. Kesavara Raju called it “a great achievement for the country.”

The former Soviet Union and the U.S, who began their Mars pursuits in the 1960s, as well as Japan and China, failed in their first attempt to put their spacecraft into Martian orbit. The US Mariner-3 failed in 1964 and the Japanese Nozomi did not make it in 1998. Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission, with a Chinese payload, failed in 2011.

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has kicked off its science phase and its five payloads are gathering data in full swing, said director of Isro's Space Application Centre, Kiran Kumar. 

The MOM entered the Martian orbit on September 24 and made history by achieving success on its maiden flight. Google celebrated the first month the orbiter's entry to Mars with a doodle on October 24. 

Speaking  on Wednesday, which marked the first anniversary of the MOM launch on November 5, 2013, Kumar said the data downloaded from the spacecraft at the Indian Deep Space Network in Byalalu, off the BangaloreMysore highway, is being transmitted to the principal investigators for analysis. 

Kurian Mathew, principal investigator of the Methane Sensor For Mars, said: "We are analyzing data from both from Mars and comet Siding Spring. We will highlight them at an appropriate moment." 

The Methane Sensor For Mars has been described as the "bridegroom" of all the payloads as its findings are expected to have huge ramifications. Indian Space Science Data Centre's general manager J D Rao could not hide his excitement. "We are anxiously waiting for the results," he told on Wednesday. 

The quality of the pictures taken by the Mars Colour Camera in the last one-and-half month has attracted considerable praise from across the world. 

It's 3.2 Earth days. That's how much time Isro's Mars Orbiter Mission takes to go around Mars, the planet she'll orbit for at least six months even as there are plans to extend her life.

By late Wednesday, MOM would have completed two revolutions around the Red Planet and all the five payloads have been activated. The Mars Colour Camera (MCC) has already sent two sets of pictures.

The latest pictures released on Tuesday covered the regional dust storm activities over the northern hemisphere from an altitude of 7,450km above its surface.

Meanwhile, the committee under former Isro chairman UR Rao met earlier this week to work out the possibilities of MOM studying Comet Siding Spring, which is expected to go past Mars on October 19. "Now that MOM has completed one revolution around Mars, we know its position vis-a-vis the comet," Rao told.

Scientists are calibrating the various payloads. Rao said the final decision on what type of study should be conducted will be taken in October. Studies have shown that the comet has a lot of methane and water and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study the comet has got even Nasa excited.

"Nasa is continuously monitoring the comet and their MAVEN spacecraft around Mars will also capture Siding Spring just like us. We're in touch with them," Rao said.

"The important payload to study the comet will be the methane sensor. But we'll have to work out the plan and what results we may expect with different options," another scientist said, adding, "A final decision will be taken around October 15 depending on MOM's position."

Studying the comet was not originally part of Isro's plan whose objective was to reach a Martian orbit and study the planet but scientists are now gearing up to send commands to study the comet.
                                                    MOM Completes 100 Days 
As the world rings in the New Year on January 1 Indian space scientists will have another reason to uncork the champagne: The day will mark 100 days of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in the red planet's orbit. 

What's more, MOM which was given a life span of 180 days may well continue to study Martian details for up to 15 years. 

This is because the spacecraft has saved so much during the journey to Mars that it still has 37kg of fuel. It takes only two kg of fuel a year to keep MOM in orbit. The electronic systems which are tested for a life of more than 15 years will hold the key to MOM's longevity as they could get damaged in solar flares and unexpected incidents in space. 

"We are so excited about the 100th day of MOM in orbit. So far the spacecraft has been in the pink of health. And it looks like it will live on for several years," MOM project director S Arunan told. Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said scientists were looking forward to June — well past the spacecraft's assigned life of mid-March — when it will go through a phase of no communication with earth.

 

"This would last two weeks when the sun comes in between MOM and Earth cutting off the signal," said Radhakrishnan. "This will be an ultimate test for the spacecraft's autonomy (the ability to gauge its own health, remain in orbit and carry out experiments without orders from Earth)." 

The Isro chairman said fuel was only one of the limiting factors of any spacecraft. "The life of a spacecraft depends also on the longevity of its batteries and electronic systems which we had subjected to endurance tests," he said. 

The systems pass through what scientists call an 'infant mortality test,' were they undergo 168 hours of burn-in (under high temperatures). This is to ensure they withstand the extremities of space weather. "Our systems have passed all these tests, so hopefully MOM will have a long life," said Radhakrishnan. 

That would mean a higher probability of spotting something interesting on and around Mars. MOM is fitted with five instruments, including a methane sensor that looks for methane — the definite indicator of past life — and an absorption cell photometer to pick up traces of deuterium and hydrogen which could suggest early existence of water on the red planet. The other instruments are a colour camera, an infrared spectrometer and a composition analyser.

India joins elite club with heliborne geo-survey capability

India on Wednesday became only the seventh nation to own a heliborne geophysical survey system (HGSS), which has been integrated on the advanced light helicopter's (ALH) latest version — Garuda Vasudha. 

The ALH, which is the brainchild of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been integrated with HGSS procured from Pico Envirotec Inc, Canada. 

The chopper was officially handed over to the Geological Survey of India (GSI), a body responsible for conducting geophysical survey under the ministry of mines and it costs Rs 73-crore. Although basic aircraft was delivered to the ministry of mines as early as in 2009, it took HAL and the GSI five years to procure and integrate the HGSS. 

"Only six other countries, Australia, UK, the US, South Africa, France and China have this. This will help us go beyond traditional methods of conducting geophysical surveys and will help us map our resources better," S K Wadhawan, Director General, GSI said. 

HAL Chairman R K Tyagi, while pointing out that Garuda Vasuda is equipped with state-of-the-art latest magnetic, spectrometric and gravity heliborne geophysical survey systems, said: "What we have handed over today is not just a copter but a dream." 

"For instance, India's net petroleum products import for 2012-13 was 137.35 mt costing Rs 5.34 lakh crore and if geo-survey benefits by one per cent, it would amount to reduction of import by Rs 5,000 crore," he said. 

Wadhawan said that this was as part of the GSI's modernisation plan, which had seen a ship to detect minerals under water — Samudra Ratnakara — commissioned in October last year. "We are also in the process of modernising our labs," he said. 

Besides the handing over of the Garuda Vasudha, the foundation stone of a Centre of Excellence Laboratory building of GSI, to be set up here was laid on Wednesday. 

Lot of surveying to be done 

The HGSS commissioned on Wednesday will have its first task at Hassan, where the chopper will look for copper, officials from the GSI said on the sidelines here. 

R Sridharan, Secretary, Ministry of Mines said that India, unlike countries like Australia which have completed 100 mapping of their resources, has a long way to go. "Only ten per cent of our country is mapped. We have a long way to go, and systems like these would help us expedite the process," he said. 

Garuda Vasudha is equipped to provide high resolution images, and has the ability to catch mineral signatures even 300 metre below the earth's surface. GSI, which has been using fixed wing aircraft for aerial surveying used to hire services from foreign countries for heliborne survey.

"This is the beginning, based on our experience and future requirement, we may go in for more of such helicopters," he said. 

Mission to Mars Launched

A day after the last of Diwali rockets was fired in this part of the country, "the big one" blasted off from the first launch pad in Sriharikota on Tuesday afternoon, firing the ambition of a nation, and the imagination of many others. About 45 minutes later, whenPSLV-C25 had injected the Mars orbiter spacecraft into an Earth orbit, the first phase of India's first Mars mission was pronounced a success. 

"I am happy to announce that the Mars orbiter mission first phase is a success," said Indian Space Research Organization chairman K Radhakrishnan. About 90 minutes after a drizzle raised minor concerns about weather among lay people, the 44.4m PSLV-C25 carrying in its head India's first Mars orbiter, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 2.38pm. 

Drowning the cheers at the mission control, about 7km away, and the nearby media centre, the rocket rose to the sky with a roar, spewing fire and smoke. Soon it disappeared into the clouds, only to re-emerge after a few second to another round of applause.

The nail-biting — albiet expected — phase came soon after the third stage of the rocket burned out, and the blip on the tracking screens disappeared. As Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan had explained earlier, the rocket would be on a coasting phase for almost 25 minutes, 10 minutes of which was a "total blind phase." The mission control witnessed some silent moments during this period. And, when mission director P Kunhikrishnan reported that the first of the two ships in the south Pacific Ocean had tracked the rocket, the scientists' faces lit up.

 

'Bigger challenges ahead' 

About 35 minutes into the flight, the rocket was cruising at an altitude "slightly higher than the expected trajectory," as a scientist put it. "But it will self-correct its course," he assured. And correct it did, after the fourth-stage engine fired on its own, bringing the rocket back to life. Soon, the orbiter was injected into an elliptical Earth orbit in what Kunhikrishnan called a "precision exercise." What follows in the next 10 days would be six crucial "orbit raising operations," in the wee hours of November 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 16. 

And then, at 12.42am on December 1, the orbiter will leave the earth's orbit for a 300-day journeyto the red planet. "It's only the beginning; bigger challenges are ahead," said the Isro chairman. "We expect the orbiter to be in Mar's orbit on September 24, 2014."

 Before India, five nations have launched Mars missions. So, is India trying to be an also-ran? Why is India trying to boldly go where many have gone before? The answers lie in India's rightful ambitions to remain in the select league of space-faring nations, mankind's unending quest for the unknown, and a bit of business.

When uncertainty fuels curiosity

Just because the previous Mars missions did not find anything conclusive about methane or water or other indicators of life doesn't mean that the Indian mission may not find any. Critics had put forth a similar argument when India was preparing for Chandrayaan-1, but the moon mission found something even men who walked on moon could not: moisture in the polar region of moon.

The same logic works here. If the Indian mission finds methane or new patterns of deuterium that suggest early presence of water, it would change the way earthlings see Mars and other planets. "Some say why spend Rs 460 crore on this mission. Such simple economics don't work here. You never know if we may find something that's worth much more than that figure," says Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan.

Uncertainty, as much as curiosity, has been at the core of every scientific exploration. Isro satellites programme director Mylswamy Annadurai calls the Mars orbiter mission a logical progression of the moon mission. "We are relaxed and confident, but then anxiety is a human trait. People who ask what we are going to fi nd would understand that not finding something is also a fi nding, a discovery that something is not there," he said.

Previous missions and groundbased calculations have found methane in Martian atmosphere, but none have been able to conclude if they definitely indicated early life. This is because methane could be of geological as well as biological origin. Whatever the source, finding methane — which one of the five scientific instruments on board the Mars orbiter would try — would add considerably to research on the red planet. The Lyman alpha photometer, meanwhile, would be looking for abundance of deuterium and hydrogen in the Martian upper atmosphere, which are indicators of early possible existence of water.

A point to prove

Will the Mars mission do all this? Nobody knows for sure. The Isro chairman is not apologetic when he says this mission is 85% a technology demonstration and the rest scientific quest. This means that India has to demonstrate — however late it is — its interplanetary mission capabilities to retain its place in the spacefarers' club.

"This is our first step in the field," says Radhakrishnan. "We have to take this step before bigger steps." He adds that only 21 of the 51 missions by the US and Russia/USSR have been successful. "That speaks of how complex the mission is. Getting the orbiter to go around the Mars itself would be a mark of success." Isro is confident of remaining in Mars orbit for about five months.

Money matters

Such missions boost Isro's capabilities and credibility so much so that more nations turn to India for their space missions and collaborations. A successful — or even attempted — Mars mission will boost Isro's image, and Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Isro, can well be a money-spinner.

India's Mars mission is a major step forward in exploring the solar system that was completed by Indian scientists in just 15 months, said the euphoric scientific community Tuesday.

India is the first Asian country and the fourth entity after Russia, the US and the European Space Agency (ESA) to leap into interplanetary space with an exploratory mission to Mars, about 400 million km from planet Earth.

Amitabha Ghosh, chairman, Science Operations Working Group - Mission Operations at the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission, said it's a significant milestone for India.

"It is important to develop capability and also try to do something unique and not something done before. The real moment for India will come when it enters into Mars gravitation," Ghosh said.

Renowned space scientist K. Kasturirangan commended the way Indian scientists were able to complete the mission within 15 months of the announcement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"I think first of all given the 15 months' time to take the mission to first level is something unbelievable for space programme of this level... something we all should be proud of," Kasturirangan said.

"It will become an important milestone for India when it completes 300 days and enters Mars orbit," Kasturirangan said.

Mission director P. Kunhikrishnan said: "With the precise injection of the spacecraft in the desired initial orbit, the crucial part of the mission for its long journey to Mars has been achieved. It is the 25th mission of the PSLV rocket."

Professor Yashpal, founding father of ISRO, lauded India's effort to chart its own path by launching the mission and not following others.

"There are a whole lot of programmes going on in the ISRO and the best part is that you are making your own path and not following anyone else's," he said.

Professor U.R. Rao, who had conducted the feasibility study of the Mars mission, said: "It is indeed a great day for India as something that has gone out of our own cradle. I can proudly say India has become mature. I hope we get very good results."

"I was talking to some scientist friends in the US and they told me why Indians are shouting about Rs.500 crore spent on the mission, it is the biggest day for the whole of India."

"Indians can be proud after spending Rs.5,000 crore on Diwali firecrackers, which don't go beyond 10 metres and with Rs.500 crore, we are going to Mars," said Rao, former ISRO chairman.

The spacecraft will enter the Martian orbit in September 2014.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director S. Ramakrishnan said: "It is a historic mission. The PSLV has again proved to be a reliable rocket with a text-book launch, which is the first step."

Mission's authorisation board member M. Chandradatan said: "It is an excellent mission, with the team work of all ISRO centres as it had a very complicated design. We have achieved the first important step in the long mission and getting into the Earth's orbit."

Former Space Commission member Roddam Narasimha from Sriharikota told IANS: "It is a distinct forward step and India is working towards a new horizon in exploring the solar system. We have only seen the first phase of the project and have to wait for over nine months to watch from Earth before the spacecraft reaches the Martian orbit."

In the press conference that followed soon after the Mars orbiter launch, a foreign journalist asked what has now become a routine question: why should India send a mission to Mars when millions are in poverty? Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan told him about the benefits of the space programme, but the journalist persevered. Benefits of the space programme are evident, but not so much the benefits of going to Mars, especially for the poor.

Radhakrishnan then talked about how not going to Mars will make Isro rapidly out-of-date with technology. It is not clear whether all the hundreds of journalists assembled at Sriharikota were entirely satisfied.

The Mars mission is not an isolated mission for the organisation. Isro, or any organisation worth its salt, never plans isolated missions. Every programme feeds into another programme, and technology developed for one mission is used for another. This happens so frequently that it rarely makes sense to focus on individual missions and question their validity. Space technology is as inclusive as any other. The Mars mission will feed into subsequent missions of Isro. For engineers, this fact is as obvious as daylight. However, there are subtleties that are not so obvious to the public, and they need to be stressed.

With the launch of the Mars orbiter, Isro has taken a few step-ups on the complexity ladder of space technology. Learning to handle a complex mission has its spin-offs in every area of life and business.

Isro has yet to master the geostationary launch vehicle and its difficulties, a task that could take several years or even a decade, but it has also to look ahead after the GSLV. Going to the moon or planets bring on a new set of challenges, and the development of a new set of technologies. An organisation that does not develop them will soon fall behind in space technology, no matter how good it becomes on sending satellites into earth orbit.

Even without a geostationary launcher, a class of vehicles all other countries use to send satellites to Mars, this mission was no less complex for Isro than it was for other countries. It is not a trivial fact that two-thirds of all Mars missions have failed. Using a smaller rocket, even when as well-tested like the PSLV, does not make the mission any less sophisticated.

In fact, it has probably made it more complex, as Isro also made it in quick time with very little money. The low energy budget introduced new complexities. The changing weather gave it another dimension.

Alarge vehicle and its satellite together use every kind of technology imaginable. It needs the right configuration of the vehicle. The PSLV is now a mature design, but consistent manufacturing is always a challenge. So is testing. More than anything else, integration is different and difficult for each mission. A small error, only a millimetre's difference in the size of a device, will lead to failure. There is some learning with each new project.

Finally, there is science to reckon with. Isro's mission is primarily a scientific mission. Mars is one of the hottest topics, if not the hottest, in astronomy today. Understanding Mars is key to understanding the Earth, its past and future. Mars may once have had life. Its conditions four billion years ago were good for life. In fact, it may even have seeded the Earth with life. Understanding all this is necessary to design the future Earth. We may one day need to even leave the Earth and live on Mars.

Science does not belong to the rich countries alone. When investing in science, it is hard to pick and choose topics according to utility. No one knows what will be useful.

India, being a large country with a large scientific infrastructure, has an obligation to invest in space science. This is particularly so because Isro's budget is frugal. The entire world can learn from India when it comes to low-cost space engineering. The Mars mission is a drop in the ocean when the total budget of the country is considered. Space has to move on.

Likening India's Mars probe to putting 'a golf ball from Tokyo in a hole in Paris', Chinese experts have termed Manglaayan's launch as "a great achievement" which if successful could make India the first Asian country to achieve this fete.

Indian launch should be interpreted rationally as "a great achievement" of India that also deserves applause from the rest of the world,Ye Hailin, an expert on South Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciencessaid.

"Like the Chinese, Indian people have their space dreams as well. The Mars orbiter, if successful, will increase the human race's store of knowledge and change our life," Ye told state-run China Daily.

Official dailies here front-paged the successful launch of the India's Mars mission, focussing on India taking the lead inMars exploration over China.

Ye also said China and India may work together to explore space instead of being engaged in what was called "aerospace competition".

In his reaction yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said thee outer space is "the common heritage of mankind" and the international community should cooperate to maintain the permanent peace and sustainable development of outer space.

Pang Zhihao, a researcher with the China Academy of Space Technology, said ultimate outcome of the current Indian venture remains to be seen, as the successful launch was only the start of a year-long mission.

"The difficulty of getting the orbiter into orbit around Mars is equal to hitting a golf ball from Tokyo into a hole in Paris," Pang said adding that China is ready to conduct its own exploration of Mars in the near future.

"The carrier rocket Long March 5, with its 25 metric tons of low-Earth orbit carrying capacity and 14 tonnes of geostationary transfer orbit carrying capacity, can fully sustain our own Mars exploration projects," he said.

Jiao Weixin, a professor at the School of Earth and Space Sciences at Peking Universitytold the daily that "with the mission launched within a very short period, India eyes the political influence hereby brought and intends to be the first one in Asia that orbits Mars."

The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) on Saturday performed the last of the five orbit-raising manoeuvre on its Mars Orbiter in the early hours, raising the apogee (farthest point from Earth) of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km.

"The fifth orbit-raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 01:27am (IST).. with a burn time of 243.5 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in apogee is from 1,18,642 km to 1,92,874 km," Isrosaid.

In the series of five orbit-raising manoeuvre with a supplementary operation after the fourth one, the space agency had raised the apogee of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km.

After the successful completion of these operations, the Mars Orbiter Mission is expected to take on the "crucial event" of the trans-Mars injection around 12.42am on December 1. It will reach the orbit of the red planet by September 24, 2014 after taking on a voyage of over 10 months.

Isro's PSLV-C25 successfully injected the 1,350-kg 'Mangalyaan' Orbiter (Mars craft) into the orbit around the earth some 44 minutes after a text book launch at 2.38pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on November 5, marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450 crore mission.

Emerging markets like Brazil, South Africa initiate reforms in patent laws in line with India’s IP policy

Days before the Supreme Court ruled that Novartis’ cancer drug Glivec is not a new invention good enough to be granted patent in April, a top executive of Pfizer had told a US Congress sub-committee, “India’s action reverberates far beyond its borders.”

That was perhaps the worst fear of Big Pharma, and it seems to be coming true with key emerging markets Brazil and South Africa initiating reforms in their patent laws in line with India’s intellectual property policy. And global experts now expect other developing countries to follow suit.

“Both Brazil and South Africa have been greatly influenced by India’s decision to incorporate TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) flexibilities designed to prevent evergreening of patents and to increase access to affordable medicines,” Brook Baker, professor at Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, told ET.

Most global experts ET spoke to feel that the globally debated Supreme Court judgment on Glivec became a critical trigger in reviving patent reforms debate across emerging economies.

“I think that the Indian legislation has influenced both the South Africa draft IP policy and the Brazilian proposed reform of the patent law,” Carlos Correa, eminent IP expert and a professor at the University of Buenos Aires, said.

Brazil earlier this month tabled in its Parliament proposed changes in its patent policy that “clarifies matters that are not considered to be inventions: such as new use patents and new forms of known substances — along the lines of the Indian Patent Act as revised in 2005”.

It also recommends “increase in the standard of inventive step in order to promote incremental innovation, along the lines of the Indian Patent Act”.

South Africa, in a draft patent policy on which it has invited public comments, has recommended allowing opposition to a patent before and after it is awarded “to effectively foster spirit of granting stronger patents”.

The draft released last month says, “A country like India resorted to pre and post-grant opposition to facilitate a possibility of opposing weaker patents… This procedure has been a success to challenge ‘weaker patents’.”

Both Correa and Baker think Section 3(D) of Indian Patent Act, which bars award of patent to frivolous and obvious incremental innovations and was at the heart of the Supreme Court’s Glivec judgment, has been a clear inspiration for Brazil.

“The Indian influence is perhaps most evident in case of Brazil in relation to the standard of patentability, since the proposed reform partially relies on the concepts incorporated in Section 3(D) of Indian Patents Act,” Correa said.

Experts now feel many smaller economies in the Africa and Latin America will initiate similar patent reforms to protect public health interests at home.

“One can expect that with these two powerful technologically proficient developing countries making the move, other developing countries are likely to follow suit,” Shamnad Basheer, an IP expert, said.

According to Basheer, Big Pharma's anguish at India striking a different patent chord was not so much about the relatively minuscule Indian market and their expected losses from patent invalidations and compulsory licensing. It was more about the fear of other countries following suit and this fear is now playing out.

Baker said that by moving in the same direction, India, Brazil and South Africa — all BRICS members — are also demonstrating an IP leadership that is having positive precedential effect in other countries such as Uganda and Zambia among others.

The development comes when India’s jurisprudence on patents is still evolving and the court's decision on many important patent battles such as the one between US multinational Merck Sharp & Dohme and domestic firm Glenmark on diabetes drug Januvia would shape the Indian patent landscape further.

Leena Menghaney of Medecins Sans Frontiers feels that the Supreme Court decision on Glivec provided an impetus for public health groups to accelerate this debate in Brazil and South Africa where public interest and treatment groups are running ‘fix the patent laws’ campaigns relentlessly to reduce abuse of the patent system by pharma companies. Not everyone agrees though.

MM Kleyn, fellow of the chair of intellectual property at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, said that apart from some arbitrary references in the draft that South Africa should follow the mould of “similar economies such as Brazil, India and Egypt” and few brief references, “there is no supporting empirical evidence or research that allows for any form of systematic and consequential analysis of the draft policy of South Africa”.