Astro_Neel

Senior Spacecraft Systems Engineer | Tweets on astronomy, rocketry & spaceflight developments in India | Per Aspera Ad Astra 🚀

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@pradx For that to happen, there needs to be an Announcement of Opportunity/Call for proposals issued from ISRO's end first.

I know of a couple startups who've proposed experiments for Gaganyaan missions through IMEx-2026: https://t.co/vKOSzM0Pj6

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Considering that any significant burst of RF activity was last recorded on 15th May, I wouldn't be surprised if Drishti has already kicked the bucket (sadly).

Based upon the long radio silence ever since then, my guess would be that it isn't collecting enough power or perhaps a safe mode has been triggered?

Either way, it's not looking good.

https://t.co/Iwxtyiq3Td

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Hello?

So are we all going to just casually ignore the fact that in the publicly available open-source data, anyone can see that Drishti is still tumbling in orbit at the rate of ~3°/sec (or one rotation every two minutes) ever since it was deployed?

https://t.co/HCRZdOzM3n

[GalaxEye @GalaxEye]

Mission Drishti Update : Contact with the satellite is firmly established.

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@Jack_Mehoff857 @TheMinuend Just about all of these specs are pulled out of thin air to make the satellite appear impressive.

> "Full India scan in 30 mins"
> "Revisit time: 5 mins..."

Yeah, I'm not surprised OP doesn't know that concept of "revisit" doesn't applies to GEO sats.

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@TinyLord007 Ngmi

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Not to say anything discouraging but none of the explanation coming from the top brass makes any sense at all.

LEOP (Launch & Early Orbit Phase) of any satellite may span over a few days to weeks to even months, sure. That's true.

But the detumbling part of LEOPs shouldn't typically last for more than a couple orbits post-ejection, in any reasonable case.

But the fact that they're saying that they're following a multi-day detumbling "strategy" because it happens to carry unique payloads is simply them spinning the story around till they can troubleshoot the issues - to save face and avoid public criticism, clearly. Prove me wrong.

https://t.co/ilvbd5qJyk

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Hey Suyash, I can understand dealing with the LEOPs has been tough lately so I wouldn't want my post to further ruin your morning.

Also, I noticed that in your long response you didn't deny once that any of these claims are misleading? So should we all reckon that something is indeed amiss?

That's understandable, because all the ground passes of Drishti have been telling the same story- https://t.co/Jn6M2xWfm4

And here's the data from the latest pass from just under an hour ago- https://t.co/gg4SMIZMRD (see attached pic). Similar tumbling rates.

And you've answered yourself for why you haven't seen such a level of interest/questioning from the community before. It's exactly because it's the first uniquely big satellite of this mass class from the private Indian ecosystem! So it'd naturally invite both praise and scrutiny in increased proportions. Come on, you should have thought of that before.

Plus, you're right. I haven't had the chance to work upon a 190 kg satellite. But if and when I do, I'll definitely be taking lessons from this convo about preparing a proper response plan instead of publicly crashing out.

Anyway, all the best to your mission control team. Looking forward to being proven wrong and zipping up when you put out your first OptoSAR image in front of all of us. Cheers :)

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Hey Suyash, I can understand dealing with the LEOPs has been tough lately so I wouldn't want my post to further ruin your morning.

Also, I noticed that in your long response you didn't deny once that any of these claims are misleading? So should we all reckon that something is indeed amiss?

That's understandable, because all the ground passes of Drishti have been telling the same story- https://t.co/Jn6M2xWfm4

And here's the data from the latest pass from just under an hour ago- https://t.co/gg4SMIZMRD (see attached pic). Similar tumbling rates.

And you've answered yourself for why you haven't seen such a level of interest/questioning from the community before. It's exactly because it's the first uniquely big satellite of this mass class from the private Indian ecosystem! So it'd naturally invite both praise and scrutiny in increased proportions. Come on, you should have thought of that before.

Plus, you're right. I haven't had the chance to work upon a 190 kg satellite. But if and when I do, I'll definitely be taking lessons from this convo about preparing a proper response plan instead of publicly crashing out.

Anyway, all the best to your mission control team. Looking forward to being proven wrong and zipping up when you put out your first OptoSAR image in front of all of us. Cheers :)

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@SolidBoosters2 @2000Notran71915 I'd already replied to him with the graph of the latest passover, on another thread-

https://t.co/RYH9bMdpnx

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@2000Notran71915 @gareebscientist @Siddhant__rao Okay, this one is from today's pass that shows the same tumbling rates. Now what?

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@VazeKshitij Good luck! :)👍🏼

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Thanks for the kind words, Kshitij! :)

I don't have a ready-to-provide list of resources as such, but I'm guessing if you're asking for websites to keep track of orbital objects, then you may consider starting with some of these -

- Mission Drishti ground passes: https://t.co/Jn6M2xWfm4
- For near real-time satellite orbit visualization: https://t.co/Q1tRW09WAp
- Celestrak: https://t.co/X68a6gEe9k
- Space Track: https://t.co/8csaZdu9KE (needs sign up)

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@2000Notran71915 @gareebscientist @Siddhant__rao Okay, this one is from today's pass that shows the same tumbling rates. Now what?

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@lostgswfan Thanks! 🙂🙏🏼

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@Vishwamitr36384 @Rethik_D I have no insider info to comment upon that. Like I said, it depends upon the nature and seriousness of the issues.

I hope they get a complete hold of whatever it is they're dealing with and get to turn things around asap.

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@Rethik_D Unsure, depends upon the exact nature and depth of the issue/s, before one can even go ahead with FDIR (Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery).

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@gopal_lohar_0 Arey yaar! 😂

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@Rethik_D @BellatrixAero 👍🏼

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@Rethik_D @BellatrixAero What propulsion system? 😄

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

@vb_vaibhavi @SarvamAI My DMs are open as well. Feel free to send me whatever questions you might have to ask.

[Astro_Neel @Astro_Neel]

Not bad @SarvamAI. Not bad at all! :)

[Fun fact for those who didn't know this by the way 🙂]