ISRO Space Capsule

Strange But True

Indian scientists are working on a return capsule.

Indian scientists for the first time have safely guided a space capsule back to Earth.
Indian space agency ISRO said the capsule splashed down in the Bay of Bengal. It added, efforts are underway to locate it and bring it ashore.

Scientists will see if all experiments have gone as planned and most importantly if the ceramic tiles served their purpose.

Only three other countries, Russia, America and China have mastered this complex technology.

It is seen as India's first steps towards undertaking a manned mission.
The 550 kg capsule was planned to land 140 km east off the coast of Sriharikota.

On splashdown, a giant balloon keeps it afloat, while a green dye and a homing beacon will help Coast Guard ships and scientists from ISRO locate the capsule.

The capsule re-orients and four tiny rockets on it will help de-boost it. Upon re-entry the capsule faces temperatures as high as 1200 degrees.

Three parachutes were planned to slow down its speed five km above sea level. Finally, when the capsule splashes down it travels at 36 km per hour.

The spindle shaped space capsule that was launched on top of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or the PSLV is India's first attempt to see if orbiting objects can be safely brought back to earth.

The space capsule has been orbiting the earth at a height of 625 km.
When it re-enters the earth's atmosphere it will be traveling at over 28,000 km per hour.

There you go. It has in fact splashed down safely.

The Space Recovery Experiment-1 (SRE-1) splashed down in the waters of the Bay of Bengal at 9.45 a.m., about 140 km from where it had taken off into space at the Sriharikota launch station in Andhra Pradesh.

'Its speed at the time was about 40 km per hour, the speed of a car,' said an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), adding that it was located by a Coast Guard helicopter and recovery efforts were in full swing.
The satellite will be towed first to an area off the Ennore harbour, north of Chennai. The Coast Guard vessel will then slowly navigate northward to Sriharikota and reach the station by night.

The space industry just keeps on changing.