GSLV-F05 lobs advanced weather satellite INSAT-3DR into orbit

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INSAT-3DR was successfully put into orbit after 17 minutes

The Indian Space Research Organisation's GSLV-F05 rocket successfully placed INSAT-3DR advanced weather satellite in the intended orbit on Thursday evening.

The satellite is expected to provide a variety of meteorological services to the country.

Updates (with inputs from T.K. Rohit):

5.12 p.m.: ISRO chairman Kiran Kumar says the satellite has been put into orbit and the launch vehicle performed extremely well. Unnikrishnan, director, SHAR, says, "The third successful launch of the GSLV, with an indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage, has demonstrated its performance."

5.12 p.m.: INSAT-3DR successfully put into orbit after 1024 seconds (17 minutes).

4.54 p.m.: ISRO says the launch is successful.

4.50 p.m.: ISRO's GSLV-F05 carrying advanced weather satellite INSAT-3DR lifts off from Sriharikota

4.25 p.m.: “Yes. It has been delayed by 40 minutes. ...due to delay in cryostage filling operations, the launch is rescheduled to 4.50 PM,” says an ISRO official. Another official said, it may not be an “anomaly” but may be as a precautionary measure, it has been revised to 4.50 p.m.

3.43 p.m.: GSLV F05 launch has been delayed by 40 minutes, our correspondent T.K. Rohit reports.

3.37 p.m.: The country started on the GSLV rocket plan in the late 1980s and early 1990s so as to be able to put its 2,000-kg communication satellites to geosynchronous orbits at 36,000 km in space from its own soil. It suffered a setback from geopolitics combined with high-technology commerce: Russia, at the behest of the USA, went back on a deal to transfer critical cryogenic technology for the last and crucial stage of the rocket. Starting in the mid-1990s, ISRO has developed its own cryo engine and has tested it on three vehicles since 2010.

Twenty years on, that old dream vehicle is about to become ready for regular work. On the eve of its flight carrying the weather satellite INSAT-3DR, A.S.Kiran Kumar, ISRO Chairman and the fifth to preside over the GSLV programme, speaks to Madhumathi D.S. about what it means to our country.

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NEW DELHI:  After a hiccup or two, the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO's much-loved "Naughty Boy", the GSLV rocket, snaked into the blue today carrying India's 11th satellite -- the INSAT-3DR. The picture-perfect launch came after an initial delay of 40 minutes, which insiders in the ISRO had attributed to "anomalies".

1)The first operational launch of the GSLV (Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is a huge step ahead for India, which had decided in the late '80s to develop a launcher for its satellites to stop having to depend on foreign rockets and providers.

2)But the GSLV's success opens new vistas -- it will be the vehicle to launch the nation's second moon mission -- Chandrayaan-2 -- next year.  It will also smooth the nation's path to the multi-billion dollar commercial space launcher market.

3)Though this is GSLV's first operational launch, the 415-tonne rocket is being tested for the tenth time. But it has had a patchy record, with five of its nine flights resulting in failure - the regular 'misbehavior' leading to the nickname "Naughty Boy".

4)ISRO had attributed today's delay in launch to an 'anomaly' -- sources said "issues" had crept in over the filling of propellants for the cryogenic engine that took nearly two decades to develop.

5)Cryogenic engines are special rocket engines that use liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as fuel. The extremely cold temperatures of these liquids make them tricky to operate.

6)It took ISRO 20 years to master the cryogenic technology after Russia reneged on a deal to transfer it in the early 1990s at the behest of the US.

7)The GSLV rocket is almost 49 meters high -- as much as a 17-floor building. It weighs 415 tons -- as much as the combined weight of 80 full grown elephants.

8)The 2211-kg INSAT 3DR that's piggybacking on the GSLV will eventually be pushed into orbit 36,000 km above Earth.

9)The advanced meteorological satellite will provide a host of data, including sharper night-time pictures. It also carries a special search and rescue transponder, which will help in satellite-aided rescue.

10)Together, the GSLV and the satellite cost around Rs. 400 crore - roughly half of what it might cost to buy and launch a satellite from an overseas vendor.

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Isro's desi cryo engine–powered GSLV-F05 places INSAT-3DR weather satellite in orbit

SRIHARIKOTA: More than two decades after the Indian cryogenic engine programme was formalised, an indigenous cryogenic engine developed by Indian Space Research Organisation successfully propelled for the first time an operational flight of GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) lifting into space the country's third exclusive meteorological satellite on Thursday evening.

INSAT-3DR, an advanced weather satellite, was placed in orbit around 17 minutes after GSLV-F05 took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4.50pm. The launch was originally scheduled to be held at 4.10pm. However, it was delayed by 40 minutes as scientists were "rechecking observations made during propellant filling."

INSAT-3DR is the second heaviest satellite placed in orbit by an indigenous cryogenic engine propelled GSLV. The 2,211kg satellite, which will provide meteorological and search and rescue data services to the country, was injected into the geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite, with the help of its propellant, will be raised to the final geostationary orbit after two days.

Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar said, "The launch vehicle has performed extremely well."

It was GSLV's 10th flight. It was GSLV's fourth flight with the desi cryogenic engine CE-7.5, with the first three being developmental flights. "This is the third successful launch with the indigenous cryogenic engine in GSLV. It has demonstrated its consistent performance and proved to be an operational launch vehicle of India," said director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre P Kunhikrishnan.

Isro called the present one an operational flight as the space agency was confident about the technology and its success. GSLV is a three-staged vehicle and cryogenic engine is used in the third and final stage.

"The GSLV rocket has carried the highest mass satellite into orbit. However, the biggest achievement this year will be the launch of GSLV Mark-III with indigenous high thrust cryogenic engine [CE-20] carrying the highest mass satellite," said Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director K Sivan, director. GSLV Mark-III will be launched in December.

INSAT-3DR

INSAT-3DR, configured with an imager and two transponders, will continue the services rendered by previous satellites and further augment the capability to provide both meteorological and search and rescue services. A data relay transponder will provide meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data from remote uninhabited locations through automatic weather stations, rain gauges and agro met stations. The other is a satellite aided search and rescue transponder that will pick up and relay alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users.

The imager in the satellite will generate images of the Earth disk from an altitude of 36,000km once in every 26 minutes and provide information on various parameters including radiation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, cloud motion and fog.

India has six meteorological satellites out of which three -- Kalpana-1, INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR -- are exclusively for providing weather services.

 

 

Isro had conducted three developmental flights with the indigenous cryogenic engine, which it was forced to develop after it used up all the Russian-supplied engines. However, the maiden flight with the desi engine carrying a 2,220kg GSAT-4, an experimental advanced communication satellite, plunged into the Bay of Bengal minutes after it took off from Sriharikota on April 15, 2010. A study conducted later revealed that the turbo pump supplying fuel to the engine had stopped working. Since then, critical modifications were made to both the engine and the rocket before its first successful flight in 2014 and later in 2015.

 

 

 

Isro had faced several challenges during the development of the engine. Cryogenic engines were basically essential to put satellites in geostationary orbit, but the technology was quite sophisticated. The reasons were obvious - burning a super-cooled fuel at extremely high temperatures. Isro was faced with the task of developing a material that can withstand the high temperature and pressure during combustion.

 

 

Top Comment

Well done isro..congratulations India..first cryo...more to comeRohit K

Even while its first 7.5-tonne engine, capable to carrying two-tonne payload, developed in 2000, blew up during a test, Isro began a project to develop another engine that could carry double the weight.

 

 

 

With a CE-20 engine, Isro is not just aiming at launching satellites weighing up to four tonne, but also a possible future manned mission.