After Failures behind, #GSLV-D5 ready to fire.#ISRO to #launch #GSLVD5 from #Sriharikota, all eyes on #cryogenicengine
In
a month marked by key advances in indigenously-developed technology,
India's space agency will also test its mettle with a crucial rocket,
powered by a cryogenic engine built in the country, slated to blast off
on Monday.The countdown is on for the flight of the heavy geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV).
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the rocket is expected to blast off at 4:50 pm on Monday from India's rocket port Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
This month has already seen key advances.
As the country celebrated its 67th Independence Day, the month saw activation of the indigenously built small reactor to power submarine INS Arihant, the launch of the indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant while a unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) is expected to be connected to the grid month end.
One event that created a shadow was the loss of Indian naval submarine INS Sindhurakshak.
Now eyes are on the ISRO to see whether the GSLV, powered by its own crucial cryogenic engine would successfully deliver its baby-communication satellite - the 1,982 kg GSAT-14 - into outer space.
"After two GSLV failures, ISRO has to prove itself at the earliest possible. There is always a pressure on that count," a senior ISRO official, who did not want to be named, said.
This will be the first mission of GSLV during the last three years after two such rockets failed in 2010.
One of the GSLV rockets flew with Indian cryogenic engine and the other one with a Russian engine.
The GSLV is a three stage/engine rocket. The first stage is fired with solid fuel, the second is the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine.
The successful flight of this rocket is crucial for India as it will be the first step towards building rockets that can carry heavier payloads, up to four tons.
According to ISRO, several design changes have been incorporated in the Monday's rocket for a safe flight.
Design changes were made in the lower shroud/cover that protect the cryogenic engine during the atmospheric flight; wire tunnel of the cryogenic stage to withstand larger forces during the flight; and the revised aerodynamic characterisation of the entire rocket.
Others included video imaging of lower shroud movement during various flight phases; fuel booster in cryogenic engine; and ignition sequence of the cryogenic engine.
ISRO said indigenisation of many critical systems including liquid hydrogen propellant acquisition system (to prevent possibility of outside contamination) was achieved.
It is going to be a tense 17 minutes for the ISRO scientists on Monday after the 49.13 metre tall rocket weighing 414.75 ton blasts off at 4:50 pm till the GSLV rocket safely delivers GSAT-14 to augment the Indian transponder - receivers and transmitters of signals - capacity.
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Satish Dhawan Space Centre|ISRO|GSLV-D5 Sriharikota Launch|GSLV-D5|cryogenic engines
AFTER POKHRAN ATOMIC EXPREMENT; AMERICA WAS DENIED CRYOGENIC ENGINE TO INDIA BUT OUR OWN CRYOGENIC ENGINE IS READY TO LAUNCH TODAY THROUGH GSLV-D5 FROM SATISH DHAWAN SPACE CENTER -SRIHARIKOTA LAUNCHING CENTER ISRO
Failures behind, GSLV-D5 ready to fire
CHENNAI: For the Indian Space Research Organization, time would stand virtually still for some 17 minutes after the GSLV-D5
blasts off from Sriharikota at 4.18pm on Sunday. For, those will be the
moments that deliver the result of its 20-year toil to launch a heavy
rocket with an indigenous cryogenic engine.
The countdown began at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11.18am on Saturday. The 49.13-metre rocket with a liftoff mass of 414.75 tonnes will carry to space the 1,982kg GSAT-14 communication satellite with applications in education and healthcare.
After using up six out of the seven cryogenic engines India had bought from Russia, Isro was forced to develop its own engine. In the past three years, which saw two failures - in April 2010 and December 2010 - and an abortion of the GSLV launch in August 2013, hundreds of Isro scientists spent thousands of hours doing tests and making alterations to components of the rocket. Sunday's performance would decide the fate of several of India's ambitious space programmes, including manned missions. "After all the tests, we are confident of a successful flight," Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan told TOI on the eve of the launch.
While India has mastered the PSLV range of rockets with a string of 25 consecutive successes, GSLV, which can carry heavier payloads, including humans, has remained a challenge. In April 2010, Isro tested its first indigenous cryogenic engine, but it failed less than a second after the cryogenic stage ignited. A refurbished GSLV-D5 was to be launched in August 2013, but a leak in the liquid fuel tank forced the mission to be aborted two hours before the rocket was to lift off. Cryogenics, the science of extremely low temperatures, has posed a challenge to rocket scientists across the world. Cryogenic engines use liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
From the April 2010 failure, when the cryogenic engine failed 800 milliseconds after ignition, Isro learned that dissimilar contractions of different materials led to problems in three bearings in the fuel booster turbo pump. "Here we made some changes to the design of one of the casings and tested the new pump under normal operating temperatures. Its working perfect now," Radhakrishnan said. In the case of the December 2010 misfire, scientists found some Russian connectors had snapped. This was corrected by changing the mounting design, which was later tested on ground using the wind tunnel blow down method.
"We have thoroughly studied the past experiences and made changes. We are all upbeat," said Radhakrishnan while travelling from the Isro headquarters in Bangalore to Sriharikota on Saturday.
The Sriharikota launchpad became active after the mission readiness review team and the launch authorization board cleared the launch on December 28, 2013. Soon the vehicle was moved from the vehicle assembly building to the umbilical tower.
India's ambitious future space programmes, including interplanetary explorations and manned missions, rest on the shoulders of GSLV. A successful flight of GSLV-D5 on Sunday would be a morale booster for Isro and the best promise for bigger space ventures.
The countdown began at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11.18am on Saturday. The 49.13-metre rocket with a liftoff mass of 414.75 tonnes will carry to space the 1,982kg GSAT-14 communication satellite with applications in education and healthcare.
After using up six out of the seven cryogenic engines India had bought from Russia, Isro was forced to develop its own engine. In the past three years, which saw two failures - in April 2010 and December 2010 - and an abortion of the GSLV launch in August 2013, hundreds of Isro scientists spent thousands of hours doing tests and making alterations to components of the rocket. Sunday's performance would decide the fate of several of India's ambitious space programmes, including manned missions. "After all the tests, we are confident of a successful flight," Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan told TOI on the eve of the launch.
While India has mastered the PSLV range of rockets with a string of 25 consecutive successes, GSLV, which can carry heavier payloads, including humans, has remained a challenge. In April 2010, Isro tested its first indigenous cryogenic engine, but it failed less than a second after the cryogenic stage ignited. A refurbished GSLV-D5 was to be launched in August 2013, but a leak in the liquid fuel tank forced the mission to be aborted two hours before the rocket was to lift off. Cryogenics, the science of extremely low temperatures, has posed a challenge to rocket scientists across the world. Cryogenic engines use liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
From the April 2010 failure, when the cryogenic engine failed 800 milliseconds after ignition, Isro learned that dissimilar contractions of different materials led to problems in three bearings in the fuel booster turbo pump. "Here we made some changes to the design of one of the casings and tested the new pump under normal operating temperatures. Its working perfect now," Radhakrishnan said. In the case of the December 2010 misfire, scientists found some Russian connectors had snapped. This was corrected by changing the mounting design, which was later tested on ground using the wind tunnel blow down method.
"We have thoroughly studied the past experiences and made changes. We are all upbeat," said Radhakrishnan while travelling from the Isro headquarters in Bangalore to Sriharikota on Saturday.
The Sriharikota launchpad became active after the mission readiness review team and the launch authorization board cleared the launch on December 28, 2013. Soon the vehicle was moved from the vehicle assembly building to the umbilical tower.
India's ambitious future space programmes, including interplanetary explorations and manned missions, rest on the shoulders of GSLV. A successful flight of GSLV-D5 on Sunday would be a morale booster for Isro and the best promise for bigger space ventures.
ISRO to launch GSLV-D5 from Sriharikota, all eyes on cryo engine
Sriharikota, August 19, 2013 | UPDATED 15:51 IST
The countdown is on for the flight of GSLV-D5.
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the rocket is expected to blast off at 4:50 pm on Monday from India's rocket port Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
This month has already seen key advances.
As the country celebrated its 67th Independence Day, the month saw activation of the indigenously built small reactor to power submarine INS Arihant, the launch of the indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant while a unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) is expected to be connected to the grid month end.
One event that created a shadow was the loss of Indian naval submarine INS Sindhurakshak.
Now eyes are on the ISRO to see whether the GSLV, powered by its own crucial cryogenic engine would successfully deliver its baby-communication satellite - the 1,982 kg GSAT-14 - into outer space.
"After two GSLV failures, ISRO has to prove itself at the earliest possible. There is always a pressure on that count," a senior ISRO official, who did not want to be named, said.
This will be the first mission of GSLV during the last three years after two such rockets failed in 2010.
One of the GSLV rockets flew with Indian cryogenic engine and the other one with a Russian engine.
The GSLV is a three stage/engine rocket. The first stage is fired with solid fuel, the second is the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine.
The successful flight of this rocket is crucial for India as it will be the first step towards building rockets that can carry heavier payloads, up to four tons.
According to ISRO, several design changes have been incorporated in the Monday's rocket for a safe flight.
Design changes were made in the lower shroud/cover that protect the cryogenic engine during the atmospheric flight; wire tunnel of the cryogenic stage to withstand larger forces during the flight; and the revised aerodynamic characterisation of the entire rocket.
Others included video imaging of lower shroud movement during various flight phases; fuel booster in cryogenic engine; and ignition sequence of the cryogenic engine.
ISRO said indigenisation of many critical systems including liquid hydrogen propellant acquisition system (to prevent possibility of outside contamination) was achieved.
It is going to be a tense 17 minutes for the ISRO scientists on Monday after the 49.13 metre tall rocket weighing 414.75 ton blasts off at 4:50 pm till the GSLV rocket safely delivers GSAT-14 to augment the Indian transponder - receivers and transmitters of signals - capacity.
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