The Hindu : National : GSLV's new version to lift off in 2007

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Saturday, Mar 12, 2005

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National

GSLV's new version to lift off in 2007

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MARCH 11. The Mark III version of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-Mk III), equipped with "a high-strength cryogenic engine" and powerful solid booster motors, will take to the sky from the spaceport at Sriharikota in 2007, said G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Mr. Nair was inaugurating the annual convention of the Aeronautical Society of India (ASI) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The convention deliberated on "Aerospace technologies for the next decade." Mr. Nair said the GSLV-Mk III was capable of putting a satellite weighing 10 tonnes in low-earth orbit (at a height of 250 km to 300 km) or a four-tonne satellite into a geo-synchronous transfer orbit (with a perigee of 180 km and an apogee of 36,000 km).

India had achieved self-reliance in space technology and ISRO was a world leader in building communication and remote-sensing satellites. The next step would be to go for "heavy-lift" vehicles such as the GSLV-Mk III. Its development was on at a good pace at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram.

S. Ramakrishnan, project director, GSLV-Mk III, said the vehicle would have a lift-off weight of 600 tonnes. Mr. Nair, who is also the ASI president, said ISRO had initiated the design on a re-usable launch vehicle, which would be a technology demonstrator. "In five years, we should be able to have a test flight," he said.

Future ISRO missions included recoverable satellites, hypersonic vehicles and air-breathing propulsion systems. ISRO was planning to put in place Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System with a constellation of satellites for aiding navigation in sea, air and road.

Schools to benefit

A recoverable satellite would be launched along with CARTOSAT-2 in a year's time. About a 1,000 primary schools would benefit from EDUSAT, which was already in orbit.

Twenty major institutions, including the Indira Gandhi National Open University, the University Grants Commission and the All-India Council of Technical Education would start telecasting educational programmes using EDUSAT in three months. From the coming academic year, about 1,000 teacher-training institutes would start using EDUSAT transponders for telecasting lessons.

Mr. Nair said India should develop a passenger aircraft of medium class, which could carry 100 people as it had a potential market. Vasant Gowariker, former director, VSSC, said India was a world leader in manufacturing solid propellants. There was still scope for improving the efficiency of these solid propellants. New chemicals could be synthesised for a variety of applications, Dr. Gowariker, awarded the Aryabhatta award by the ASI, said.

Space port

B.L. Deekshatulu, another Aryabhatta awardee and former director, National Remote-Sensing Agency, said he was working on a project to retrieve specific remotely-sensed imageries from banks with lakhs of imageries. K. Narayana, director, SDSC, said an ASI convention held at SHAR in 1995 deliberated on how Sriharikota should be developed into a futuristic space port. Most of its recommendations had been implemented and SHAR had now metamorphosed into a space port with all modern facilities. S. Shankar, controller, SDSC, Sriharikota, proposed the vote of thanks.

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