NASA FACT SHEET
FY 2022 Budget Request
Space Technology
($ Millions)
The Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) develops transformative, cross-cutting technologies that lead to research and technology breakthroughs to enable NASA’s missions and is broadening its focus on cross-cutting space technologies that will support creating good jobs in a growing space industry.
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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — The following selections, organized by topic area, are based on NASA’s fifth competitive Tipping Point solicitation and have an expected combined award value of more than $370 million. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) will negotiate with the companies to issue milestone-based firm-fixed price contracts lasting for up to five years.
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A GSLV-II rocket lifts off with the GSAT-14 spacecraft and a domestically-produced cryogenic upper stage. (Credit: ISRO)
The Indian space agency ISRO is celebrating today after a GSLV-II rocket launch that featured the first successful demonstration of the nation’s new cryogenic upper stage.
After the rocket lifted off from Isro’s spaceport at Sriharikota and successfully deployed the GSAT-14 communications satellite 17 minutes later, officials were able to declare success in what has been a nearly 20-year effort to develop the advanced propulsion technology.
SpaceShipTwo, ready for its closeup. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
A trio of orbital launches by SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corporation and ISRO will kick off the new year during the week ahead. Scaled Composites is also scheduled to conduct the third powered flight of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo on Jan. 9.
ISRO Mission Update
The launch of GSLV-D5 (with Indian Cryogenic Stage), scheduled for 16:50 hrs on August 19, 2013, had to be called off due to a leak observed in the UH25 Fuel system of the Liquid Second Stage, during the last lap of the countdown.
At the time of calling off the Countdown, the GSLV Vehicle was loaded with 210 tons of liquid and cryogenic propellants. About 750 kg of UH25 Fuel had leaked out, leading to contamination of the area around the launch pad.
The quality control problems that have plagued India’s GSLV launch vehicle re-emerged on Monday as ISRO was forced to scrub a crucial launch after a fuel leak was discovered. ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan made the announcement: “Leaky proponents observed in the second stage. We need to make an assessment of the cause of the leak in GSLV-D5 vehicle,” the ISRO chief said. “We will announce a new date for the […]
If at first you don’t succeed, spend three years re-engineering and re-testing anything and everything and then try, try again.
That’s the story of ISRO’s experience with developing a cryogenic upper stage, an advanced technology mastered by only a handful of the world’s space powers. On August 19, the Indian space agency will launch its second domestically produced cryogenic stage, capping off a three-year effort to recover for its first failed attempt.
On April 15, 2010, the first and second stages of the GSLV rocket fired nominally. However, the cryogenic upper stage engine fired for only .5 seconds before the fuel pump failed. The premature cutoff sent the GSAT-4 spacecraft to a watery grave at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal.
BrahMos Aerospace to make cryogenic engines for Indian rockets
Mangalorean.com
Missile makers BrahMos Aerospace will manufacture the cryogenic engine once the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) perfects the technology, said a senior official Sunday.
The company is also hoping to induct its supersonic cruise missile into the Indian Air Force and develop hypersonic missile in six years’ time, chief executive and managing director A.Sivathanu Pillai told reporters here.
