Opinion - Editorials

Launch vehicle passes test

IF EVERY STEP is a major step in space technology, India has scored a big leap with the fully successful testing of the launch vehicle that can place a satellite in the challenging geosynchronous transfer orbit. The second developmental flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota completes the testing schedule and announces that the GSLV has graduated to the rank of operational vehicles. The "textbook lift-off" and the success with the crucial cryogenic third stage are feathers in the cap of the Indian Space Research Organisation and must have come as great relief to the scientists and technicians involved in the preparation for the two developmental flights. The first flight, which took place in March-April, 2001, did not result in 100 per cent success. In fact, the first attempt to launch the flight had to be aborted at the last minute on March 28. When it did take off after a gap of three weeks, there was an under-performance. The launch was smooth and the rocket's strap-ons and first two stages performed flawlessly. But the Russian-made cryogenic third stage, itself making its first flight, recorded a shortfall. The satellite launched by the vehicle over-consumed the fuel on board and did not consequently reach its intended slot in space.

On Thursday, the cryogenic third stage performed to specification, facilitating the parking of its 1,800-kg satellite in a geosynchronous transfer orbit at the "right height, the right speed and the right direction". Now we have full confidence in the launch vehicle, claimed the ISRO chairman, K. Kasturirangan. The sense of relief his organisation would feel is understandable against the background of the long saga of the GSLV and the innumerable hurdles it has had to face in the form of technology denials to reach even this level. There indeed is a long way to go before the country can hope to match its global competitors. To say this is not in any way to undervalue the achievements with the two developmental flights. The second was a distinct improvement over the first in several respects, the most remarkable being that the ISRO managed to raise the payload capacity from the 1,540 kg of the first. This was possible by making the rocket lighter and improving the performance of its first two stages. The GSLV-D2 was the 17th satellite launch rocket to be tested by the ISRO and also the most technologically challenging programme undertaken by it.

It was an unqualified success in more senses than one on Thursday, a tribute to the innovation and creativity of the country's premier space research organisation. Among the challenges ahead is the shift — indeed a giant leap — from the Russian cryogenic engine to the indigenous one in the next three years. The GSLV Mark I will have the Russian version with the Mark II going Indian. One year and one month ago, in March 2002, the ISRO reached a milestone with the successful test firing of the indigenous cryogenic engine at its complex in Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu. Its progress circumscribed by forces outside its control, the agency has charted an ambitious programme for the next few years. Before the first decade of this century is over, it hopes to get ready Mark III, a vehicle that will be capable of launching four-tonne satellites. By no means will the date be too early since the global leaders in the field are miles ahead — and, unlike ISRO, aggressive and highly competitive. Where India can score over the others is perhaps on the count that it can offer the cheapest taxi rides on its rockets in the burgeoning world market for satellite launches and space services.

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