The American space agency NASA has confirmed that the return of Indian origin astronaut Sunita Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) has been further delayed and no new date has been set for her “happy landing”.

This comes as the spacecraft in which she travelled to space, the Boeing Starliner, has been facing a series of glitches. Sunita Williams and her co-passenger Butch Wilmore are both safe on the ISS along with the seven other crew members who inhabit the “mini-city in space” – the ISS.

Riding atop the Boeing Starliner on its maiden mission, Ms Williams reached the ISS on June 5 on what was to be possibly a 10-day mission but since then it has been extended twice thanks to issues with the small rockets that help the crew module return to Earth, and a series of Helium leaks that bedevil the Boeing Starliner on its first crewed flight.

NASA says the crew is not pressed for time to leave the station since there are plenty of supplies in orbit, and the station’s schedule is relatively open through mid-August.

Initially, Ms Williams was to return potentially on June 14, this was scrapped and a new date June 26 was set by NASA, this has also been postponed and a new date has not been announced yet.

“NASA and Boeing leadership are adjusting the return to Earth of the Starliner Crew Flight Test spacecraft with agency astronauts. The move off Wednesday, June 26, deconflicts Starliner’s undocking and landing from a series of planned International Space Station spacewalks while allowing mission teams time to review propulsion system data,” a statement said.

Five of the 28 thrusters on the Boeing Starliner are having issues and there have been five Helium leaks on the space craft. Experts say a minimum of 14 thrusters are required for a safe return.

Boeing says, “Starliner has completed 77 of the original 87 flight-test objectives, with the remaining 10 will occur between undocking and landing.”

NASA says mission managers are evaluating future return opportunities following the station’s two planned spacewalks on Monday, June 24, and Tuesday, July 2. So it could well be nearly a month long stay for Ms Williams in space on her third mission to space.

“Starliner is performing well in orbit while docked to the space station,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program

“We are strategically using the extra time to clear a path for some critical station activities while completing readiness for Butch and Suni’s return on Starliner and gaining valuable insight into the system upgrades we will want to make for post-certification missions.”

Boeing has faced several hiccups in the Starliner development and initially it was to have completed this with a $4.2 billion contract but has now spent a total of about $ 5.7 billion and the going is still uphill as the mission remains incomplete.

NASA wanted a second alternative to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and hence Boeing Starliner was being pushed through. Boeing is going through a bad patch in general and its aviation and aircraft business has also been stumbling.

NASA says Wilmore and Williams remain integrated with the Expedition 71 crew, assisting with station operations as needed and completing add-on in-flight objectives for NASA certification of Starliner.

Ms Williams is a qualified navy test pilot she had flown twice earlier to space in 2006 and 2012 and according to data from NASA, before this Starliner mission Sunita has already spent a cumulative total of 322 days in space.

“With seven space walks totalling 50 hours and 40 minutes, Sunita held the record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut but that has since been overtaken by Peggy Whitson with 10 spacewalks.”

Ms Williams has helped design the Boeing Starliner so she should be familiar with all its details.

Such Delays Not Unforeseen on Maiden Missions

“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” said Stich.

“We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking. Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.”

Meanwhile, the space fairing community prays for the safe return of Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore, but it could be embarrassing for Boeing if SpaceX’s Crew Dragon were to be used to rescue the astronauts stuck at the space station.

“The crew’s feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and they know that every bit of learning we do on the Crew Flight Test will improve and sharpen our experience for future crews,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Boeing’s Starliner Program.

Ed Dwight, who is the first Black man to be trained as an astronaut, is set to become the oldest person to go to space at 90 years of age. Dwight in 1961 hoped to become the first Black astronaut in space, but he never made it.

A Blue Origin flight is finally giving the 90-year-old the chance that he was denied decades ago.

On Sunday, Dwight will join five others on a space flight by Blue Origin, the space travel company owned by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. The 11-minute flight will take the six members to the edge of space, helping them experience weightlessness due to zero gravity and view the Earth’s horizon.

In 1961, Dwight was selected by then US President John F. Kennedy to enter an Air Force training program, known as the Path to NASA’s Astronaut Corps. Dwight was an elite test pilot at that time, but was ultimately not picked.

In 2022, Dwight revealed that when he got the offer letter in 1961 to be the first Black astronaut, he thought “these dudes were crazy.”

After the completion of the program in 1963, the Air Force recommended him to join the corps. However, he wasn’t selected. In 1966, he resigned from the military citing strain of racial politics.

“So, all these White folks that I’m dealing with, I mean, my peers, the other guys that were astronaut candidates and the leadership was just horrified at the idea of my coming down to Edwards and the president appointing me to the position,” CBS quoted him as saying.

He dedicated the rest of his life to telling Black history through sculpture. Dwight’s art, displayed around the country, includes iconic figures like Martin Luther King Jr, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and more.

Dwight’s seat on the Blue Origin flight is believed to cost $250,000 even though the ticket prices are a well-guarded secret. His ticket has been sponsored by the nonprofit organisation, Space for Humanity, known for providing help to send citizens to space.

The story so far: As the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) forays further into space with missions to the sun and the moon, with space telescopes, landers, and astronauts, the nation’s space sector is also expanding beyond ISRO. With the Centre allowing 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the space sector, the industry’s private players are eyeing a boost in funding from overseas companies and investors.

Since ISRO’s founding in 1969, several state-owned firms like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Antrix Corporation, and private companies like Godrej Aerospace, Ananth Technologies, and Larsen & Toubro have helped it manufacture rockets, satellites, and other space components for ISRO. However, the boost to the Indian private space sector came in 2020 when the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was established to promote, authorise and supervise various space activities of non-governmental entities (NGEs).

Here is a look at India’s private space sector, the companies involved, laws promoting it and ISRO’s role.

 History of ISRO’s commercialisation

Early partners of ISRO include Data Patterns, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Larsen & Toubro, and Godrej Aerospace, which helped manufacture auxiliary components. While production of launch vehicles, satellites, spacecrafts, and boosters was mainly handled by ISRO (in-house or in collaboration with international partners), these companies helped fabricate spacecraft components, satellite systems, ground stations, satellite and ground station control systems, rocket engines, and communication systems

In 1992, the Department of Space (DoS) spun off Antrix Corporation Ltd., a wholly government-owned company under ISRO’s administrative control, to promote, market and deliver commercial products of ISRO to international companies. Antrix is the conduit between ISRO and its private industry partners to facilitate technology transfer, assess financial and commercial viability of joint ventures and develop the industrial capabilities of the Indian space sector.

Some of its core tasks are:

1. Providing satellite communication services via the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT)
2. Providing launch services for commercial satellites aboard ISRO’s polar and geosynchronous satellite launch vehicles – PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mk-III for foreign customers.
3. Providing data from the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite to international users,
4. Building and delivering satellites and satellite sub-systems
5. Provide technical consultancy and facilitate transfer of ISRO’s technologies

While Antrix has been launching foreign commercial satellites using ISRO’s PSLV since 1999, a major boost to these launch services occurred in September 2016 when the PSLV C-37 successfully injected 104 satellites into orbit in a single launch – the highest so far.

Turning its focus to India’s domestic space industry, in 2019, the Centre established NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) – a public sector undertaking run by the DoS, to boost indigenous production of various ISRO space products by the industry consortium. Like Antrix, NSIL too is a commercial arm of ISRO, offering launch services, building satellites and subsystems, remote sensing services, technology transfer and producing small and polar satellite launch vehicles in collaboration with Indian space/defence companies. While Antrix caters to ISRO’s foreign partners, NSIL focuses on its domestic customers.

Private players involved & their role

Older aerospace companies like HAL, Godrej Aerospace, Ananth Technologies, and Data Patterns catered mainly to manufacturing space components for ISRO. HAL provides structural parts of several space components, like heat shield assembly, nose cone assembly, fuel propellant tanks, and cryogenic engines for launch vehicles. Godrej Aerospace manufactures Liquid propulsion engines, complex fabricated assemblies for antennas, pods, satellite thrusters, actuators, valves, and pumps.

Technological firms like Ananth and Data Patterns are the core manufacturers of ISRO’s ground stations, nano satellites, automated test equipment, printed circuit boards (PCB) for various controllers (digital, analog, radio or microwave frequency, laser,power), sub-systems of satellites – telemetry, communications, altitude & orbital control units, sensors, payloads, launch vehicle control units for navigation, power, stage integration, servo controls and inertial sensors.

However, independent and dedicated space companies dealing in manufacturing and offering launch services began much later as Centre rolled out dedicated schemes and budgetary allocations for start-ups.

Start-ups began to take root in India in the early 2010s with the first space start-up, Dhruva Space Private Limited, being established in 2012 in Hyderabad. Soon after, several other space start-ups cropped up in India: Bellatrix Aerospace (2015), Aadyah Aerospace (2016), AgniKul Cosmos (2017), Manastu Space (2017), Skyroot Aerospace (2018), Satellize (2018), and Pixxel (2019), to name a few. As of date, over 200 space start-ups are registered in the country, attracting investments worth ₹1000 crore in 2023 itself.

Most of these companies are involved in designing and manufacturing satellites, launch vehicles, ground stations, propulsion systems, propellants,and satellite subsystems and offer launch services using ISRO’s PSLV/GSLV or private launch vehicles. Several companies also manufacture technological systems for control, monitoring, tracking and geospatial activities. A few companies like Skyroot and Agnikul Cosmos are involved in manufacturing their own satellite launch vehicles. Manastu Space is one of the only companies involved in green-technology for space — offering alternative fuel for boosters, refuelling stations in space, deorbiting expired satellites.

Here’s a closer look at a few space start-ups.

Dhruva Space

Based in Hyderabad, Dhruva Space was founded by Sanjay Nekkanti in 2012 to design customised satellites, ground stations and launch services from ground or space. With 80-odd members, Dhruva Space manufactures satellites for missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and beyond, orbital deployers (a system to launch small satellites/payloads), ground stations, antennas and space operations command system – a module which monitors, controls, tracks satellites, and payloads remotely. It also offers launch services for satellites from the ground via launch vehicles and from the International Space Station (ISS) using orbital deployers, as well as customised payloads.

Dhruva Space’s indigenously developed 1U, 3U and 6U Satellite orbital deployers have been successfully tested and launched in ISRO’s PSLV missions in 2022 in 2023, after being authorised by IN-SPACe. The company is also currently building a 2.8 lakh square-foot spacecraft manufacturing facility in Hyderabad after closing its third round of seed funding, which raised ₹22 crores in October 2021 via institutional investors like Indian Angel Network and Blue Ashva Capital.

Skyroot

Skyroot was founded in 2018 by Pawan Chandana and Bharat Daka in Hyderabad and specialises in manufacturing space launch vehicles. In 2020, the company became the first private Indian start-up to successfully test liquid propulsion engines as well as a 3D printed cryogenic engine. It has test-fired its own rockets Vikram-S and Vikram-I. In November 2022, it launched India’s first private rocket, Vikram-S, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on a suborbital flight.

Currently, the company is developing and testingthree space vehicles Vikram -I, II, and III, rocket engine Raman–1 and rocket motors Kalam-5, Kalam-100 and Kalam-250. Skyroot has at least four launches planned in 2024 and has raised ₹250 crores in its pre-Series C funding round led by investor Temasek in 2023.

Agnikul Cosmos

Similar to Skyroot, Agnikul Cosmos, a start-up manufacturing space launch vehicles, was incubated at the Indian Institute of Madras by Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM in 2017. After testing its single-piece 3D printed engine Agnilet in 2022, it also inaugurated India’s first private mobile launchpad ‘Dhanush’ and the Agnikul mission control center at Sriharikota in the same year. Due to its mobility, ‘Dhanush’ is launch location-agnostic (can be set up at any launch site) and will be used to test fire its transportable launch vehicle Agnibaan, which can deploy small satellites to Low Earth Orbits.

Partnering with ISRO for technology support, the Chennai-based start-up raised $11 million in Series A round funding from several institutional and angel investors and shortly after opened the Agnikul Rocket Factory– 1 at IIT Research Park. After cancelling its scheduled launch on March 22, the company is currently working on a new launch date and time for its Agnibaan rocket for a sub-orbital flight demonstration.

Manastu Space

Founded by Tushar Jadhav and Ashtesh Kumar in 2017, the Mumbai-based space start up Manastu Space specialises in green technology for space. It manufactures green propulsion systems using hydrogen peroxide-based rocket fuel for satellites, and debris collision avoidance systems for CubeSats (nanosatellites using standardised size and form factor – 1U, 3U etc) named Vyom 1U and 2U. It also offers in-space services like refuelling satellites via fuel stations in space, extending life spans of satellites which have gone out of control and removing used/expired satellites from orbits to reduce space debris.

As of date, Manastu has signed two deals for its propulsion systems – with UK-based Black Arrow Space Technologies and French satellite firm Venture Orbital systems. In 2023, Manastu Space raised $3 million in pre-Series A round funding led by the Indian Angel Network.

 Indian regulatory framework for private space companies

On May 16, 2020, in the fourth ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ stimulus worth ₹20 lakh crores Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced the creation of IN-SPACe to allow the private sector to benefit from ISRO’s assets including testing centres, launch site, technologies, and launch vehicles. Ms. Sitharaman also unveiled a new liberal geo-spatial data policy and opened up planetary exploration and outer space travel to private companies.

IN-SPACe

IN-SPACe was set up as a single-window, independent, nodal agency to authorise, promote and supervise space activities of private non-governmental entities. The agency will overlook NGEs’ activities such as building launch vehicles, satellites, sharing infrastructure and premises under ISRO/DoS control and establishment of new facilities and infrastructure. It also monitors and evaluates proposals from NGEs and issues authorisations for space activities such as launches and test firing. IN-SPACe also provides technical incubation for start-ups in their infancy and promotes space tourism, facilitates the start-up ecosystem and boosts student participation. Since its establishment, IN-SPACe has signed 45 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with NGEs to support them in space activities.

National Geospatial Policy

In February 2021, Centre issued guidelines for private companies to acquire all geospatial data and maps from government agencies without licences, and permission or clearances for collection, use and dissemination, except certain categories. Geospatial data is information about objects, events or phenomena that occur on a location on earth’s surface indentified by latitude and longitude co-ordinates.

Building on these guidelines, the Centre also unveiled the National Geospatial Policy on December 28, 2022, laying down a framework for the development of a geospatial ecosystem, allowing democratisation of data and a strengthened integrated interface for all digital data that have location. The policy also promotes private sector participation in collection of geospatial data, allowing the Survey of India to maintain high resolution/high spatial accuracy orthoimagery (geometrically corrected image to remove distortions).

Indian Space Policy

Strengthening the private space sector in India by finally providing a legislative framework, the Centre rolled out the Indian Space Policy on April 20, 2023. This policy permits NGEs to:

• Offer communication, internet services, remote sensing and navigation services via self-owned, procured or leased satellites
• Operate ground facilities for space operations such as telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C)
• Use of Indian or non-Indian orbital resources to establish communication satellites
• Manufacture and operate space transportation systems such as launch vehicles and shuttles including reusable, recoverable and reconfigurable versions of these transports.
• Commercial recovery of an asteroid or space resource

The policy has paved the way for ISRO to transition from manufacturing operational space systems to a focus on research and development in advanced technologies.

Amended FDI policy

On February 21, 2024, Centre amended its FDI policy, allowing up to 74% FDI for satellite manufacturing and operation, up to 49% FDI for launch vehicles, spaceports and associated systems and 100% FDI to manufacture components and systems/sub-systems for satellites, ground and user segments. Beyond the above mentioned limits investment is allowed in these segments via the government route.

ISRO’s role – then & now

With the opening up of the sector and the above-mentioned slew of reforms, the Centre aims to boost Indian space economy from its current worth of $8 billion (2% of global space economy) to $100 billion by 2040. Since 2020, start-ups have successfully launched their own satellites, sub-orbital launch vehicle and also established a portable launchpad and a private mission control centre within the ISRO campus.

Despite the increased participation of private companies in the Indian space sector, ISRO remains its driving force. As of 2023, ISRO has launched 424 foreign satellites since the 1990s, of which 389 were launched since 2014 generating $174 million from foreign satellite launches and £256 million from European satellite launches. With scheduled missions to moon, sun, mars, deep space explorations and several satellite launches, ISRO will continue to lead the sector – albeit partnering with start-ups for manufacturing smaller subsystems.

Since beginning operations last year, the James Webb Space Telescope has provided an astonishing glimpse of the early history of our universe, spotting a collection of galaxies dating to the enigmatic epoch called cosmic dawn. Image for Representation.
| Photo Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Martel

Since beginning operations last year, the James Webb Space Telescope has provided an astonishing glimpse of the early history of our universe, spotting a collection of galaxies dating to the enigmatic epoch called cosmic dawn.

But the existence of what appear to be massive and mature galaxies during the universe’s infancy defied expectations – too big and too soon. That left scientists scrambling for an explanation while questioning the basic tenets of cosmology, the science of the origin and development of the universe. A new study may resolve the mystery without ripping up the textbooks.

The researchers used sophisticated computer simulations to model how the earliest galaxies evolved. These indicated that star formation unfolded differently in these galaxies in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang event 13.8 billion years ago that initiated the universe than it does in large galaxies like our Milky Way populating the cosmos today.

Star formation in the early galaxies occurred in occasional big bursts, they found, rather than at a steady pace. That is important because scientists typically use a galaxy’s brightness to gauge how big it is – the collective mass of its millions or billions of stars.

Also Read | Billion-light-year-wide ‘bubble of galaxies’ discovered

So, according to the study, these galaxies may have been relatively small, as expected, but might glow just as brightly as genuinely massive galaxies do – giving a deceptive impression of great mass – because of brilliant bursts of star formation.

“Astronomers can securely measure how bright those early galaxies are because photons (particles of light) are directly detectable and countable, whereas it is much more difficult to tell whether those galaxies are really big or massive. They appear to be big because they are observed to be bright,” said Guochao Sun, a postdoctoral fellow in astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois and lead author of the study published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Webb, which was launched in 2021 and became operational in 2022, detected about 10 times more very bright galaxies from cosmic dawn than anticipated based on most theoretical models.

“According to the standard model of cosmology, there should not be many very massive galaxies during cosmic dawn because it takes time for galaxies to grow after the Big Bang. Immediately after the Big Bang, the universe was filled with a very hot, nearly uniform plasma – a fireball – and there were no stars or galaxies,” Northwestern University astrophysicist and study senior author Claude-André Faucher-Giguère said.

Also Read | Space telescope uncovers massive galaxies near cosmic dawn

“In our new paper, we show quantitatively using our simulations that the bursts of star formation produce flashes of light that can explain the very bright galaxies observed by Webb. And the reason this is so significant is that we explain these very bright galaxies without having to break the standard cosmological model,” Faucher-Giguère added.

The simulations in the study were conducted as part of the Feedback of Relativistic Environments (FIRE) research project.

The findings centered upon a phenomenon called “bursty star formation.”

“In contrast to forming stars at a nearly constant rate, the star formation activity in those early galaxies went on-and-off, on-and-off, with some large fluctuations over time. This, in turn, drives large variations in their brightness because the light seen by telescopes like JWST was emitted by the young stars formed in those galaxies,” Sun said.

The researchers have an idea of why this phenomenon occurs in smaller galaxies. In these, a batch of very large stars may form in a sudden burst, then explode as supernovas after just a few million years due to their great size. They blast gas into space that becomes ingredients for another burst of star formation. But the stronger gravitational effects in larger galaxies prevent these bursts, favoring steady star formation.

Sun expects Webb to continue to challenge our understanding of the universe and provide fresh insight, regardless of whether it meets scientific expectations.

“This is exactly how science is done and progressed,” Sun said.

China, which aims to become a major space power by 2030, has opened up a key lunar mission to international cooperation as mission deadlines loom for setting up a permanent habitat on the south pole of the moon.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

China, which aims to become a major space power by 2030, has opened up a key lunar mission to international cooperation as mission deadlines loom for setting up a permanent habitat on the south pole of the moon.

China welcomes countries and international organisations on its uncrewed Chang’e-8 mission and to jointly carry out “mission-level” projects, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said at the 74th International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday.

Mission-level projects mean China and its international partners could launch and operate their spacecraft, conduct spacecraft-to-spacecraft “interactions”, and jointly explore the surface of the moon, according to details announced on CNSA’s website.

International partners are also welcome to “piggyback” on the Chang’e-8 mission and independently deploy their own modules once the Chinese spacecraft lands, CNSA said.

Interested parties must submit a letter of intent to CNSA by December 31. The final selection of proposals will come in September 2024.

The Chang’e-8 mission will follow the Chang’e-7 in 2026, which also aims to search for lunar resources on the moon’s south pole. The two missions will lay the foundations for the construction of the Beijing-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) in the 2030s.

China, which deployed an uncrewed probe to the moon on the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020, plans to send an uncrewed Chang’e-6 probe to the far side of the moon in the first half of 2024 to retrieve soil samples.

China aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

China’s timeline to build an outpost on the south pole coincides with NASA’s more ambitious and advanced Artemis program, which aims to put U.S. astronauts back on the lunar surface in December 2025, barring delays.

On the 2025 Artemis 3 mission, two U.S. astronauts will land on the lunar south pole, a region previously unvisited by any human. The last time a human set foot on the moon was in 1972 under the U.S. Apollo program.

The crewed Artemis 4 and 5 missions are planned for 2027 and 2029, respectively.

NASA is banned by U.S. law from collaborating with China, directly or indirectly.

As of September, 29 countries – including India, which landed a probe near the moon’s south pole in August – have signed the Artemis Accords, a pact crafted by NASA and the U.S. State Department aimed at establishing norms of behaviour in space and on the lunar surface.

China and Russia are not signatories of the agreement.

China, for its own lunar station program, has secured participation from only Russia and Venezuela so far.