India can launch two-tonne satellites

Friday, 09 May 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India Friday said it had the capability to send into space satellites weighing up to two tonnes following the successful test of its largest satellite launch rocket. The indigenously developed geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), carrying the 1.8 tonne GSAT-2 experimental communications satellite, was successfully fired from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota Thursday. S.B. Mookherjee, minister of state in the space department, told the Lok Sabha Friday that GSAT-2 was functioning normally. "With this successful flight of the GSLV, the payload capability has been established for launching operational communication satellites of 2,000 kg class," Mookherjee said. GSAT-2, which has several transponders for communications and mobile satellite services, will be raised to its final geo-synchronous orbit in the next few days. "The accomplishment of this technologically challenging milestone is the culmination of efforts of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centres supported by industries and academic institutions," Mookherjee said. The first successful launch of the GSLV, a 49m rocket weighing 400 tonnes, was made in April 2001. The rocket had then carried a 1.5 tonne satellite into space, but its payload for the second launch Thursday was the heavier GSAT-2. Mookherjee said this higher payload capability was achieved through a mix of improved engines, optimisation of structural elements and enhanced propellant loading. The GSLV's crucial third stage uses a cryogenic engine supplied by Russia, but the electronics and control and guidance mechanisms were designed and developed by ISRO scientists. With Thursday's launch, ISRO has come a long way from its first and unsuccessful attempt in August 1979 to put a satellite into space using an indigenously developed rocket, the satellite launch vehicle-3 (SLV-3). Since then, ISRO has built up capabilities to put heavier satellites in more complex orbits deeper in space. The next version of GSLV, which will replace the Russian-built engine with an indigenously made one, is expected in 2004 or 2005 and will carry a payload of 2.25 tonnes. A third version with a payload of four tonnes is planned for 2007.
Source: IANS
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