India’s popularity among the space-faring nations took a giant leap on
Thursday with the national space agency – Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) – successfully launching the first operational
flight of GSLV Mk-II using home-grown cryogenic rocket technology, which
only a few in the world have able to master. ISRO proudly declared that
it has mastered the cryogens and is no longer ‘scared’.
But before the triumph, there was a hiccup. Due to an anomaly while
filling fuel into cryogenic engine, the lift-off was delayed by 40
minutes. The initial launch was scheduled at 4.10 pm and the vehicle
took off at 4.40 pm from the second launch pad. But, it registered zero
difference in inclination, which is a rarity. Putting it in perspective
with reference to past failures, ISRO officials said, the “naughty boy
has turned out to be an adorable boy today”. This is the first hat-trick
of GSLV and the seventh successful launch this year.
Designated
as Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS)-07 flown onboard GSLV-Fo5 from Satish
Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, the vehicle placed the 2,211 kg
advanced meteorological satellite INSAT-3DR in its intended
geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) after 17 minutes of journey.
The
mission catapulted India into the multi-billion dollar commercial
launcher market on a fully indigenous large rocket. ISRO declared that
GSLV-F05 is fully operational and it is exploring new avenues to attract
business. India becomes the sixth nation in the world after US, Russia,
Japan, China and France to have tasted success with an indigenous
cryogenic engine.
Congratulating the team, ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar said this
successful launch gave ISRO engineers confidence to approach the first
developmental flight of GSLV Mk-III using a more powerful cryogenic
engine in December-January. “We are intending to conduct two GSLV Mk II
launches every year. We have a large number of satellites in the line-up
to put them into orbit using GSLV Mk II, including the SAARC satellite,
Chandrayaan-2 and the ISRO-NASA missions,” he said.
The
private sector played an important role in development of cryogenic
technology and was associated with the ISRO from the start. For example,
Godrej set up the rotary vacuum brazing facility in Mumbai. Brazing was
a key and difficult technology, and setting up the facility took more
than a year. MTAR Technologies Pvt Ltd made the turbo pump and some
other components.
Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre
(LPSC) S Somanath, who was earlier heading GSLV, said ISRO was now very
confident about GSLV and the cryogens. “After the failure of our first
mission GSLV D3 in 2010, we did a detailed analysis of the problem and
lot of tests were done and the three consecutive successes were a result
of that. The knowledge base has improved significantly,” he said.
GSLV
D3 failed to reach orbit due to a malfunction in the Fuel Booster Turbo
Pump (FBTP) of the cryogenic upper stage. The next GSLV F06 mission
same year was also a failure and the range safety officer has to destroy
it after loss of control over liquid-fueled boosters. Later, GSLV D5
scheduled for August 2013 was aborted and rescheduled for January 2014
after a leak was spotted in the eleventh hour. Since then, ISRO never
looked back and reached a stage where Antrix Corporation Limited, the
commercial wing of ISRO, is putting the GSLV before the world as
credible vehicle ready for commercial launches.
Courtesy: The New Indian Express
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