Article

2006-07-09 India-Pakistan

India to launch its heaviest satellite into geostationary orbit tomorrow

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Posted by john 2006-07-09 10:06|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Nice high-res photos of the launch vehicle and satellite being assembled and carried to the launch pad.

Link to photos

Posted by john 2006-07-09 10:12|| 2006-07-09 10:12|| Front Page Top

#2 Got to figure a way to jettison the dead weight auxillary boosters.

Posted by 6 2006-07-09 11:27|| 2006-07-09 11:27|| Front Page Top

#3 No further refinements on the basic PSLV design are possible. The GSLV was made by modifying stages of the PSLV to create a bigger vehicle.

The GSLV-3 will be a new vehicle - 600 tons - capable of carrying 4.5 tons to GEO and 10 tons to LEO.

3 stages - first stage will be two huge solid boosters (each with 200 tons solid propellant HTPB/AP/Al) that are strapped to the second stage (110 tons liquid engine - UDMH+N2O4).
The third stage will be cryogenic - 20 tons LOX/LH2.

This is a model of the vehicle. First test launch is scheduled for 2008.

Posted by john 2006-07-09 11:41|| 2006-07-09 11:41|| Front Page Top

#4 India's latest communication satellite INSAT-4C would be launched by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, on Monday.

The GSLV would lift off with the 2168 kg INSAT-4C, the heaviest in its class, at 4 pm on Monday, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said at the airport on Saturday night.

"The preparations for the launch are going on satisfactorily. A rehearsal was held and the results were good", he said on arrival enroute to Sriharikota.

This is the first launch of the GSLV from the Rs 350 crore state-of-the-art launch pad commissioned in May 2005.

The 49-metre-tall, 414 tonne GSLV is a three stage vehicle. The first stage, GS1, comprises a core motor with 138 tonne of solid propellants and four strap-on motors, each with 42 tonnes of hypergolic liquid propellant.

The second stage has 39 tonne of the same hypergolic liquid propellant. The third (GS3) is a cryogenic stage with 12.6 tonne of liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2).

INSAT 4C, the second satellite in the INSAT 4 series, would give a boost to Direct-to-Home television services, video picture transmission and digital satellite news gathering. It will also provide space for National Informatics Centre's VSAT connectivity.

The satellite is designed for a mission life of 10 years.

Posted by john 2006-07-09 15:19|| 2006-07-09 15:19|| Front Page Top

#5 They've certainly come a long way from 1964 when they packed payloads by hand and carried it to the pad on a bicycle

Posted by john 2006-07-09 15:48|| 2006-07-09 15:48|| Front Page Top

#6 India probably has the most sophisticated space program you've never heard of.

Posted by Mike 2006-07-09 20:42|| 2006-07-09 20:42|| Front Page Top

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