It is proof of mature technology: SHAR director::ISRO launches GSLV D5, India among heavyweights of rocket science

Keywords: ISRO, GSLV-D5 launch, indigenous cryogenic engine, GSAT-14 communication satellite

The Hindu ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan (centre) addresses the media from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Sunday. Also seen are S. Ramakrishnan, Director, VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram (left); K. Sivan, Mission Director; N.R.V. Kartha, Project Director-Cryo Stage; and M. Nageswara Rao, Satellite Director-GSAT-14 (right). Photo: V. Ganesan

The successful launch on Sunday of GSLV-D5 is proof of mature technology and leadership shown by Indian space scientists, M.Y.S. Prasad, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, has said.

“It has been an exciting time since January last. A great deal of effort has been made to refurbish the GSLV. Team members from all space centres had arrived here since August last to make it a success,” said Mr. Prasad, who is also chairman of the launch authorisation board for GSLV-D5, which was powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine.

Mr. Prasad said the mission marked a qualitative jump in the acquisition and performance of the cryogenic stage, and it was indeed an achievement.

M. Chandra Dathan, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems, expressed joy over the capability of ISRO scientists to overcome failure and take the cryogenic stage to fruition.

The successful launch stood testimony to the quality of products and retesting methods the ISRO used for its missions, he said.

S. Ramakrishnan, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, said it proved a challenge to understand what went wrong after the first launch of GSLV D5 failed.

It required a tremendous amount of work and many tests. He attributed the success to the dedication, hard work and commitment of all those involved in the mission.

ISRO launches GSLV D5, India among heavyweights of rocket science

 

 

India successfully launched rejuvenated indigenous cryogenic engine- fitted GSLV-D5 carrying communication satellite GSAT-14 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. (Courtesy: ISRO)

After 20 years of toil, the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) on Sunday took a quantum leap in mastering a rocket technology that puts it in the big league of space faring nations, following a demonstration of the first-ever perfect performance of its indigenously developed cryogenic engine in the course of a successful flight of its Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
Dogged by setbacks and failure over the last six years, the heavy lift GSLV, which has the capacity to put satellites weighing over 2,000 kg in space, launched the 1,982 kg GSAT-14 communication satellite and put it in a near perfect orbit on Sunday.
The launch sequence of the GSLV, marred by a launch pad fuel leakage on August 19, 2013 and the failure to fire off the cryogenic stage on April 15, 2010, went perfectly as planned on Sunday, with the cryogenic upper third stage firing through a course of 12 minutes, with the predicted revolutions per minute to take the satellite to an altitude of 205 km with a velocity of 9,785 metres per second.
The significance of the success of the flight of the GSLV-D5 was evident from the jubilant cheers in the launch control room at Sriharikota as the cryogenic engine fired at 4 minutes and 53 seconds — after the rocket was ignited at 4:18 pm — and burned out at 16 minutes and 55 seconds.
The GSLV-D5 placed the GSAT-14 communication satellite in an orbit with an apogee (nearest distance to earth) of 179 km, against a targeted 180 km with a 5 km margin for error, and a perigee (furthest distance from earth) of 36,025 km against a target of 35,975 km with a 675 km margin of error.
The successful demonstration of the use of cryogenic engine technology in the upper stage of the GSLV puts India among a league five other nations — the US, Russia, France, Japan and China — that possess the technology that is considered the ultimate frontier in rocket science.