Lustrous take-off by ISRO in Global Space Commerce theatre

By: P.Prabhu

India takes a giant leap in international space commerce
after ISRO puts 20 satellites in orbit.

Once again, India's great-grand space agency has achieved yet another magical milestone.

Since Aryabhata -- India's first indigenous satellite launched by a Russian (erstwhile Soviet Union) rocket from their territory of Astrakhan in the year 1975, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has come a long, indeed a very long way. 

With the successful launch of a record number of 20 satellites at one go by its very own workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on June 22, 2016, ISRO has accomplished yet another "monumental feat." as proudly-stated by India's Prime Minister- Shri Narendra Modi.

The mission benefited many other countries, including that of the USA, Canada and Germany and thus enabled ISRO to form an unofficial research coalition with other Space agencies.

The year 2016 has turned out to be yet another euphoric year for India's far-reaching space missions.

The back-to-back successes by ISRO, starting with the launch of the fifth regional navigation satellite IRNSS-1E in January followed by the sixth and seventh satellites of the series, IRNSS-1F and IRNSS-1G, in March and April respectively, have put India in an exclusive club of countries capable of orbiting and operating its own sat-nav system, which has aptly been named "Navic".

While basking in the glory of these successes, the space agency has also taken baby steps towards making its own "space shuttle" someday by successfully launching an indigenously-made winged Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) in May this year. The development of such a futuristic rocket is aimed at putting satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter the atmosphere. 

And it is pertinent to note here that it was Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the iconic missile scientist and greatest visionary of the 21st century who had dreamt of India leading the way in designing a reusable hypersonic rocket.

The technology demonstration test has, in fact, paved the way for many other breakthrough technology missions, including hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion, according to ISRO.

Flush with the success of the technology demonstration flight of its Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV- TD) last month, ISRO is gearing up to test a scramjet engine based on air-breathing propulsion.
The test flight of the indigenously-developed scramjet engine is scheduled to take place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota sometime in July.
It is named as : Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), the test platform will comprise a scramjet engine hitched to a two-stage sounding rocket (RH- 560). Maintaining combustion in hypersonic conditions poses technical challenges because the fuel has to be ignited within milliseconds.

Space agencies across the world are focusing on the development of scram-jet technology because it contributes to smaller launch vehicles with more payload capacity and promises cheaper access to outer space.

The space agency has also proposed to build a third launch pad at the same spaceport to support increased launch frequency and also to support launching requirements of advanced launch vehicles such as the GSLV. Once the flight tests are successful, the GSLV rocket promises to further boost up ISRO's business prospects by enabling it to orbit heavier satellites of other countries as well.

The space agency at present launches 5-6 satellites every year.

As the space agency's commercial arm-Antrix at present holds around 30 orders from different countries for satellite launches scheduled to be completed in next two to three years, the latest successful launch of 20 satellites has emboldened ISRO to increase its satellite launches to 12-18 per year. 

With all these momentous milestones, and yet many more to come by, ISRO has continued to make the Indian flag soar to greater heights in space.

Rocketing Institutes of India

Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering,  also known as ‘Rocketery/Aviation Science’, is a Specialized Field of Engineering that involves the science & engineering of aircrafts and spacecrafts including aeroplanes, helicopters, rockets, missiles, space stations, UAVs etc. operating within and outside the earth’s atmosphere. It involves studying, designing, construction and maintenance of aerial vehicles.

A Space-Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

This special feature of JNN9 India (Website-Blog-Journal) in collaboration with North India Statesman (Daily Newspaper) brings you the Top Engineering colleges offering Aerospace Engineering and the scope and opportunities in this branch.  Else-where in the World, universities have been separately rated for specific branches of science; But apparently, our young enthusiast have a little glitch in finding ranks of colleges in India strictly concerned to their academic discipline. Our team took this enormous task and began updating its database of 700+ colleges/deemed universities & autonomous institutes, also consulting them with the ranking process, we also took slight account of other rating agencies and segregated our database. We gathered the data based on funding & infrastructural public record from Central & State Govt., NAAC rating score, and most importantly the GATE results- signifying the emphasis on the ‘dream’ institutes of students and their parents as well. So,  let’s find out.

A vapor-cloud formation on a fighter jet - F15

     The best Aero-Institutes in India are as follows :-

↓AIR=  All India Rank

1. Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
2. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (Mumbai)
3. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
4. Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram
5. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (Chennai)
6. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
7. Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (Howrah)
8. PEC University of Technology Chandigarh
9. Feroze Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology Rai Bareli
10. Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai
11. Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi
12. Andhra University College of Engineering (a declared IIEST), Visakhapatnam
13. University College of Engineering, RTU, Kota, Rajasthan

The following award only Masters or higher degrees, so of little interest to Bachelors aspirants and hence placed comparatively lower:

14. Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune
15. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore

Two of these institutes deserve special notes, namely- IISc Bengaluru and FGIET, Rai Bareilly. Both as compared to each other are a contrast image. IISc being a very old established Institute of National Importance whereas FGIET is a nascent institute but still competing with other prestigious Institutes of National Importance like the IITs, IIEST's and IISc. IISc is profoundly funded and administered by the MHRD whereas FGIET is a state-funded institution. But, the common thing between these two is that both are contributing to the Nation. Also, the other ranking and top-notch colleges hold promises that our nation is surely leaping bounds in aerospace capabilities. 

Iridescent Star Performer:

In IISc-Bangalore, the most fascinating thing is the course-study and it’s promising final output. The faculty is handpicked and owing to much innovative and flexible course structure allows a firm research base development. Students enrolled in the program take courses in Engineering, Mathematics and Physics for three semesters (1-3) which are common and compulsory to all. In the next four semesters (4-7), they choose a major discipline of study and take a handful of other science courses and a stipulated number of engineering courses. The last semester is devoted to a final project. Besides, all the students, spend a couple of months in various research institutes across the country exploring a topic or a research problem of their interest which boosts their innovation index . The academic structure seems to be much inspired from the Foreign Research Institutes (MIT, CalTech, Harvard, Standford, Princeton etc.) which have a diverse and interdisciplinary study course.

Young Missile Performer:

FGIET, Rai Bareli, UP established in 2004 is relative a very young institute when compared to other top ranking colleges. It is also the only-State Government funded institute in the Top 10, all others are profoundly funded by the Central Govt. and other organizations/ Departments.

Despite it’s comparatively small budget than the million dollar IITs/IISc , the FGIET students are developing deep understanding of the subject by being introduced to live aircrafts through IGRUA, an innovative approach by the Management to instil practical know-how of aero-machinery without a heavy consumption of monetary resources.   The tailored students have begun fruiting as they are performing well in esteemed GATE exams.
In the 2015 results, 11 students so far have been admitted in IISc/IITs/IIST. That's a pretty impressive digit since out of total 30 seats, only 11 are unreserved, the rest being reserved as per the State Government policy.
All India Topper (AIR 1)of Aerospace Branch - Raghu is an FGIET-2014 passout.
All India Rank 3, Mohd. Anwar had been offered IISc Bengaluru, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIST Thiruvananthapuram and several other IITs.
Similarly, Mayank Verma received offers from IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT Guwahati  and reputed NITs.
Many other students got below hundred rank in GATE hence are expected to get through the prestigious institutes of the nation like the IITs/IIST/IISc and several other prominent engineering science research institutes.

Concept Drawing: Adaptive Morphing Aerial Vehicle

Ranks of Other Reputed Institutes (privately-financed) are:- 

(List Accordingly these institutes thus achieved 16th AIR to 30th AIR resp. )

           ↓PIR-Private Institute Ranking                                                                                      

•  1.  Indian Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Dehradun
  
•  2.  SRM University, Chennai                                                                                        
•  3.  Manav Rachna International University                                                                
•  4.  University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun                                      
•  5.  Manipal Institute of Technology                                                                            
•  6.  Amity University, Noida                            
•  7.  Lovely Professional University                                                                              
•  8.  Amrita University, Coimbatore                                     
•  9.  Desh Bhagat University,Punjab                                                                                 
• 10. Karunya University, Tamil Nadu                                                       
• 11. MVJ College of Engineering, Bangalore                                       
• 12. Indian Institute of Aeronautical Engineering & Information Technology, Pune  
• 13. Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore                   
• 14. Hindustan University                                                                                
• 15. Sathyabama University, Chennai                                                                       

After you earn a degree in aeronautical engineering, you can work almost anywhere in the world where there is aviation utilization. Their job is concerned with various areas like design, maintenance and development, besides which there are teaching positions in top universities. They can work in air turbine production plants, manufacturing units, airlines, and many more fields. In fact most of the engineers at NASA are Indian engineering graduates. In the computer field, you can also draw plans using CAD software. Another important field is the air accident investigation, which tries to eliminate air mishaps.

The job is very attractive and provides a prestigious position as well. Besides, the salary is lucrative, which is why many youth are attracted towards making a career in this field. The average starting salary is much higher as compared with other fields of engineering.

But there’s more than just salary, more important is being associated with Nation’s top R&D programs is itself an honorary work. The aspirants instilled with Nationalism and sense of service to Nation would find very satisfying career prospects in this sector. You can do wonders to the pride of Nation. Even our P.M – Hon’ble Narendra Damodardas Modi is keenly interested in development of Defence through air-superiority and it’s indigenization program would only be possible through our own scholars. Multitude of billion-dollar deals with leading International industries is just the commencement of the enormous flow of economic and technological revenue going to take place in India. Thus it’s not rocket-science to estimate that in coming years we are going witness a rocket-boom in our upcoming aero-hub.

Rocket Propulsion (a.k.a Rocket Science)