The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for the maiden launch of its brand new GSLV mark-3 launch vehicle. The GSLV-3, which is bigger & more sophisticated than its predecessors, will provide India with the much needed capability to launch Human spaceflights. Standing 42.4 metres tall & weighing 630,000 Kgs (1.39 million pounds), the GSLV-3 is capable of launching 5,000 Kg payload to the GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit) much higher than 2,500 Kg of GSLV mk-2 & 1,400 Kg of PSLV. The GSLV-3 rocket will be of three stages namely the Solid booster stage, Liquid motor stage & the Cryogenic stage. The third stage consists of India's indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20 that has a nominal thrust of about 200 kN. The rocket will be carrying a 3,735 Kg payload named 'CARE' (Crew-module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) which is a 'Technology Demonstrator' of ISRO's future orbital vehicles. The success of Thursday's launch is extremely important in the view of fact that it would enable India to launch manned missions in the future besides demonstrating the reliability of the indigenous cryogenic engine. These two (manned missions & cryogenic technology) are the areas where India has been lagging several years behind the other Asian space powers, China & Japan.
GSLV-3 rocket ready to be launched from Second launch pad
India's indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20
ISRO's state-of-the-art Mission control room
ISRO's Mission control room
The successful launch of GSLV D5 in 2014 made India the 6th nation to have launched a rocket with indigenous cryogenic engine
No comments:
Post a Comment