The Hindu : National : EDUSAT launch in September

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

National

National

EDUSAT launch in September

By T.S. Subramanian

CHENNAI, JULY 31. The launch campaign for the lift-off of the gigantic Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) has got into top gear with its second stage being assembled at the launch-pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, according to its Director, K. Narayana. The launch will take place in the second half of September.

The vehicle will deploy a satellite called EDUSAT which "will be a path-breaking effort" in the concept of tele-education. Exclusively meant for serving the education sector, this will be the third GSLV launch but its importance lies in its being the first operational flight. Hence, it has been codenamed GSLV-Flight-01. The previous two launches in April 2001 and May 2003 were developmental flights.

Three-stage vehicle

"We are preparing to integrate the cryogenic stage" on top of the second stage, Mr. Narayana said. The cryogenic engine is imported from Russia and it is powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. But for the Russian cryogenic engine, the GSLV is a fully indigenous vehicle made at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. The GSLV is a three-stage vehicle. It is 49 metres tall and weighs 414 tonnes.

EDUSAT will contribute immensely to universalisation of education.

Quality education

It will help provide quality education to all regions of the country. Besides supporting formal education in schools, colleges and technical institutions, the programmes beamed through EDUSAT will disseminate knowledge to the rural and remote population on health and hygiene, and help professionals update their knowledge.

According to Mr. Narayana, the launch campaign began on June 7, and ISRO's engineers have already assembled the GSLV's core first stage, which carries 138 tonnes of solid propellants. Around the massive first stage are strung four booster motors, each of which will be powered by 42 tonnes of liquid propellants. The second stage also uses liquid propellants weighing 39 tonnes. The liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the cryogenic stage together weighs 12 tonnes. "The integration of the cryogenic stage will be done in the second half of August," Mr. Narayana said.

Equipment bay

The equipment bay, which forms "the brain of the vehicle" housing electronic systems such as processors, and navigation, control, guidance, telemetry and telecommand systems, will be mounted above the cryogenic stage. EDUSAT, weighing about 1,950 kg, will be married up with the equipment bay. The GSLV will place it at 36,000 km above the earth, from where it will beam programmes.

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