India will fly its first small rocket next year: ISRO Chairman
Chennai, Sep 15 : The Indian space agency expects to fly its first small rocket with a carrying capacity of about 500-700 kg sometime next year, according to a top official.
"The developmental work for our small rocket that can carry satellites weighing around 500 kg is on. The first flight of the small rocket is expected to happen sometime next year," ISRO Chairman, K.Sivan told IANS.
He said the small rocket will be launched from the existing rocketport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
In a recent interaction with IANS in Bengaluru, S.Rakesh, Chairman-cum- Managing Director, Antrix Corporation said the low-cost small rocket requires a dedicated launch pad with a simple vertical launch mechanism.
"Though SSLV will be initially launched from our rocketport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, we want to have a separate spaceport for it later," Rakesh had said.
Queried about Rakesh's views on the separate spaceport Sivan said initially the small rocket will be flown from Sriharikota. Antrix may have its own plans for the future.
Incidentally, Antrix is calling Indian nationals to apply for the post of `Head, Manufacturing & Marketing of Space Systems'. The job description being: "Preplanning activities of new Space Transport Systems which Antrix is envisaging to put into production. Establishment of production facilities in co-ordination with ISRO and Industries for Technology Transfer and production of the System."
Sivan also said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is evaluating the various proposals it has received for its lithium-ion battery technology and is expected to complete the process in a month's time.
"In a month or so the first level of screen of the proposals will be over," Sivan said.
Over 130 companies had shown interest in the Indian space agency's lithium-ion cell technology.
In June this year, ISRO had announced its decision to transfer this technology to the Indian industry on a non-exclusive basis for usage in automobiles for Rs 1 crore.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre located in Kerala, will transfer the technology to the successful Indian industries or start-ups on a non-exclusive basis to establish production facilities in the country that can produce cells of varying sizes, capacities, energy densities and power densities catering to the entire spectrum of power storage requirements, ISRO had said.
At present, the lithium ion battery is the most dominant battery system finding applications for a variety of societal needs including mobile phones, laptops, cameras and many other portable consumer gadgets apart from industrial applications and aerospace.
Recent advances in the battery technology have made it the preferred power source for electric and hybrid electric vehicles also.
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Rupee hits all-time low for second time in a week
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 31 paise to settle at 91.99 against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching the lowest closing level for the second time in less than a week, amid increased month-end demand for the greenback.
Forex traders said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe offered quiet reassurance. However, increased month-end demand for the American currency as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions dented investors' sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.60 and touched an early high of 91.50, but pared all the gains to touch an intra-day low of 91.99 against the greenback.
The domestic unit settled 31 paise down, revisiting its lowest-ever closing level of 91.99 against the greenback. The Indian currency previously ended at this level on January 23 when it also hit its all-time intraday low of 92 against the US dollar.
On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and gained 22 paise to close at 91.68 against the US dollar.
Analysts said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe bolstered investor sentiment.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA), under which a number of domestic sectors such as apparel, chemicals and footwear will get duty-free entry into the 27-nation bloc, while the EU will get access to the Indian market at concessional duty for cars and wines, an official said.
The deal has been dubbed the "mother of all deals" as it will create a market of about 2 billion people.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at 96.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 67.28 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 487.20 points to settle at 82,344.68, while Nifty surged 167.35 points to 25,342.75.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 480.26 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
