Another outstanding scientific feat by ISRO

India’s monstrous rocket launcher GSLV (Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle) Mark III successfully blasted off on its maiden flight from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on Dec 18, 2014. The liftoff was flawless bolstering India’s ambitions of manned space missions. The Rs 155 crore mission designated LVM3 was conceived to study the flight validation of the newly developed GSLV Mark III and to test the ability of CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) module to enter earth’s atmosphere with thermal resistance, parachute deployment in cluster formation, aerobraking systems and apex cover separation procedures.

GSLV Mark III is the third generation upgraded vehicle marking the third generation of India’s orbital launch systems. It is designed to place 10 tonnes of pay load into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or 4 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Till now India’s, workhorse PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) with its reliability in delivering small satellites earned not only great repute but revenues to the country.

With this success India’s dependability on foreign launch vehicles will be reduced saving millions of dollars expended for deploying bigger payloads. India can emerge as a smart scientific power in the business of global satellite launching. India’s odyssey to space began in 1979 with an unsuccessful attempt to launch Rohini Technology pay load (RTP) using the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) whose payload carrying capacity was only 90 kilograms.

It was soon replaced with an upgraded version of Augmented Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), a five stage engine with solid and liquid fuels that could carry a pay load of 150 kg. However, the ASLV development plans were aborted soon as ISRO made a mid-course correction to move over directly to develop the next genre of launch vehicle, PSLV capable of launching 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit or 1050 kg satellite in GTO. PSLV has four stages that use solid and liquid propulsion systems alternatively. With an exception of maiden unsuccessful flight, since its inception in 1993, PSLV successfully launched 58 (23 Indian and 35 foreign) satellites.

GSLV was introduced in 2001 to enable India to deploy its own communication satellites of INSAT-4 class. The vital final/third stage of GSLV, is cryogenic stage, which is highly efficient than the liquid stage in PSLV. Despite concerted efforts, the success rate with GSLV has been 37.5%. GSLV mission received a major boost with flawless deployment of GSAT-14 in January 2014. GSLV Mark-III is the next generation rocket and its current sub-orbital flight is aimed at validating the two stages of the rocket. The cryogenic third stage is passive.

LVM3 weighing 630 tonnes and 42.4 meters at liftoff is a three stage rocket. The first stage contains two S200 Large Solid Boosters (LSB’s) that burn 207 tonnes of solid propellant- mixture of ammonium percholate, aluminium and hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and fired for 130 seconds. The second stage is liquid or L110 powered by two Vikas engines derived from France’s Viking series used on Ariane rockets.

It burns asymmetrical dimethyhydrazine (UDMH) oxidised by dinitrogen tetraoxide and will be air-lit two minutes after the rocket lifts off under the pressure of two solid boosters. The Third stage designated as C25 powered by CE20 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. During the current flight, it is inert and loaded with liquid nitrogen to stimulate propellant.

ISRO with its relentless scientific pursuits has opened up new vistas for scientific exploration. This glorious accomplishment would augur missions like Chandrayaan-2 and human space missions. But the dream of putting Indian astronauts into space and its feasibility is still highly debated and is subjected to allocation of 12,500 Crores from the government.