AstrotalkUK

Astrotalkuk.org - Episode 83 - India's Human Spaceflight Programme. R Umamaheswaren talks about @ISRO Human Space Flight Programme #gaganyaan and thinks the chances of a woman as a member of the first crew "highly likely". recorded at #IAC2018

A conversation with Prof. Fujimoto Masaki about @JAXA current and future plans to explore the inner solar system and #samplereturn missions. Recorded in Bremen just after #IAC2018

Astrotalkuk.org. Episode 81 - United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of UNOOSA# talks about some of UNOOSA's current projects. recorded during #IAC2018

Astrotakuk.org Episode 80. S. Somnath joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala in 1985 and today he is its director. Recorded at #IAC2018

Astrotalkuk.org - Episode 79 satsearch.co A digital marketplace for the global space supply chain? With @satsearchco. Recorded at #iac2018.

Dr Kiran Kumar. Credit ISRO Mr Kiran Kumar studied physics, physical engineering and electronics in educational institutions in India including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. He specialised in electro-optical imaging systems and, in 1975, was recruited by Dr Yash Pal (one of a few key individuals who played a pivotal role in the early days of India’s space programme) to ISRO’...

Sven Grahn has been working in the space field in one way or another for over fifty years. Officially retired, he continues to work as a project leader of a student satellite at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is perhaps best known for his work in tracking satellites launched by the secretive Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s. In those pre-internet days, his work along wit...

Bayar Goswami One of the earliest characteristics of human civilisation (large populations living together in organised cities) was the creation of rules or laws that everyone who lived there agreed to abide by. The 50th anniversary of first humans to visit the Moon is celebrated later this year. In 1968 it was pretty much just two countries and a few space missions per year. Today, over 70 countr...

One mission two spacecraft, China is going back to the Moon with Chang'E 4 mission that I think is the most exciting lunar mission since the 1970s. By the end of 2018, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) will launch Chang'E 4 that will explore the far side of the Moon with a lander and a rover. Since it is on the other side of the Moon, it will be totally out of sight from the Earth. To...

Dr Brian Weeden Space, as the author Douglas Adams said, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is". After 6 decades of launching spacecraft, some orbits are now congested with space debris from collisions and poor end-of-life mission management. This has now become a serious hazard and even a danger to operational spacecraft. With plans to launch th...

If you follow this podcast, you will notice a very long pause since the previous episode. I have been busy writing my second book, the Indian Space Programme which is now finally complete. So I am now back to my familiar but irregular podcasting mode. The growth in the space sector now widely estimated to be worth annually over 300 billion USD globally. It is primarily being driven by the commerci...

It's been a while since I posted episode 72.  Now that the book The Indian Space Programme has been published, I am resuming podcasting. You can see some Amazon Reviews and if you have one, add your own too. More about that book on this short BBC radio interview here. . If you want, you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter. The previous newsletter (March 2018) is available here. April's newslett...

Located about 80km from Chennai on India's east coast, Satish Dhawan Space centre is used by ISRO to launch all of its satellites including those to the Moon and Mars. Also known as Sriharikota, it was established during the late 1960s but today it has a vehicle assembly building, two launch pads and a state of the art mission control centre

The Indian Space Program was initiated by a brilliant nuclear physicist Homi Bhabha who pretty much immediately handed over the space program to Vikram Sarabhai. Bhabha himself pursued the goal of bringing institutionalised fundamental research to India. At the time he saw that as essential for the new emerging independent India.

India's space program is now over half a century old. During this time, its Infrastructure has evolved. This episode looks at the current communication capabilities used to support space vehicles during launch, in Earth orbit or on interplanetary missions. ISRO has an extensive network of ground stations on the Indian mainland, offshore, and in neighbouring countries (Mauritius and Fiji), and coll...

Interview recorded at ISRO's satellite Centre in Bangalore with Mars Orbiter Mission program director Dr Mylswamy Annadurai. This interview was recorded on 26th March 2014 after MOM was launched but before it arrived at Mars.

Contribution of Stephen H Smith to development of rocketry and the Anglo Indian community in India of which he is a member.

This episode is a preview of some of the space-related exhibits in Europe's largest aerospace museum - Speyer Technik Museum, in Germany. If you ever go and the following may entice you to do so: four space exhibits to look out for include the following: Soyuz TM19 - The landing capsule Soyuz TM-19 was used by the German astronaut Ulf Merbold to return to Earth on 4th November 1994 following his l...

November 21st 2013, was the 50th anniversary of a rocket launched from India into space. The launch itself was an all-Indian affair, but with significant international support. The rocket was American, carried a French Sodium Vapour payload, and was assisted by a computer and a helicopter from the Soviet Union. From this meagre beginning, India has become a key player not only in building and laun...

Prof. UR Rao The Indian Space Research Organisation formally came in to being in 1972. By then, India had been developing its space program for almost a decade. The first launch to space from Indian soil was a two stage Nike-Apache rocket supplied by USA with a  sodium  payload from France. The rocket delivered a vertical trail of sodium vapour in space above the twilight sky of the south eastern...

Coorg Star Party. Credit BAS Another episode in the current series about space and India. Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS) is probably the most industrious astronomical societies in India. Founded in 2006, it has nearly 200 paid-up members based in and around Bangalore, but a huge number of national and international followers online. In this episode, BAS president Naveen Nanjundappa describes...

With a population of 1.2 billion people, India has just one national with first hand experience of spaceflight. Rakesh Sharma, a now retired Indian Air Force wing commander, in 1984 spent eight days in space aboard the Soviet space station Salyut 7. This account of his spaceflight was recorded at his home in the Nilgris region of India in August 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_ANSNTB-U

Amrita Shah Vikram Sarabhai  is unanimously accepted across India as the "father" of its space program. Not really known well outside India, he died suddenly and prematurely at age of 52 in 1971. He had studied cosmic ray physics and gained his PHD from Cambridge in 1947 the same year India became an independent nation.  He spent the rest of his life implementing a vision that the prosperity of In...

Jim Revis. Credit Jim Revis A short interview with Jim Revis recorded in London on 24th April during InfoSec 2013. In this interview, Jim talks about the evolving definition of Cloud Computing, the CSA's Star Registry, the CSA's Cloud Computing Security Knowledge certification, and his take on how Cloud Computing has evolved and is evolving. During the interview, Jim refers to a collaborative prog...

Reg Turnill with Wernher von Braun 1977 Like so many in the “space community” I was saddened to hear of the passing of Reg Turnill. He was  the BBC’s aerospace correspondent but is  best known  for covering the American Space program  throughout the 60s and 70s that he documents so well in his book Moonlandings: An eye witness account. He was the BBC’s representative in Moscow at Gagarin’s post fl...