GSLV second time lucky

GSLV second time lucky

New Delhi, April 18, India has successfully launched its most advanced rocket on Wednesday, lofting an experimental communications satellite from a coastal spaceport, Sriharikota, in southern Andhra Pradesh State 20 days after its maiden launch was aborted due to a technical problem, Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D1), using cryogenic technology for the first time, lifted off from the Sriharikota High Altitude Range at 3:43 p.m. local time. The 160-foot (49-meter) tall rocket, weighing 401 tons, is a three-stage vehicle. Its core stage is powered by solid propellants; its second stage uses liquid fuel. The third is a cryogenic stage using liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

The rocket carries a 3,395-pound (1,540-kilogram) experimental communication satellite for digital audiovisual broadcasting and Internet services. The GSLV will eventually be able to place loads of around 4,410 pounds (2,000 kilograms) into orbit by 2003, according to reports.

The successful launch has put India alongside the United States, Russia, Japan, China and the European Union, which all can launch heavy satellites into space. The mission's success is expected to end India's reliance on foreign launch vehicles for homegrown satellites and may help establish it as a player in the lucrative space market. In the past India launched its satellites via Europe's Arianespace.

The Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) GSLV project was initiated in 1990 at an initial cost of 756 crores ($157 million) to achieve self-reliance in satellite launching. But the project got caught in technology-denial issues when the U.S. blocked Russia from transferring cryogenic rocket technology to ISRO. U.S. sanctions following India's nuclear tests in 1998 also denied New Delhi access to components and led to further delay in the space agency's most expensive project.

Related News:

India's GSLV-D1 launch likely on March 28
(http://www.gisdevelopment.net/news/2001/mar/na018.htm)

GSLV D-1 fails to lift off
(http://www.gisdevelopment.net/news/2001/mar/na021.htm)

India aims for rocket re-launch
(http://www.gisdevelopment.net/news/2001/apr/na013.htm )

India's Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle takes off from the Sriharikota range near Chennai on Wednesday. The launch put India into an elite group of countries able to launch payloads into space.