After the successful accomplishment of the longest flight of its workhorse PSLV late last month, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota is turning to its next generation space vehicle GSLV Mk-III to reach a major milestone soon.
The target is to put into orbit GSAT-19E, an indigenous communication satellite that will weigh about 3.3 tonnes, the heaviest payload to be launched from the Indian spaceport.
However, it will be just a few notches lighter than GSAT-18 (3.5 tonnes) that was sent into space by the European Space Agency from French Guiana on Thursday.
“The satellite assembly and launching process of the GSLV Mk-III are in advanced stages. We are confident that SDSC will make yet another mark among the space-faring nations,” said SDSC Deputy Director M. Badarinarayana Murthy.
On the sidelines of a scientific exhibition organised by the SDSC as part of the World Space Week celebrations at V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College here on Friday, Mr. Murthy told The Hindu that said the target was to take the payload capacity beyond four tonnes in the coming years while concentrating on the launch of Chandrayaan-II, India’s path-breaking lunar probe, in less than two years.
New cryogenic engine ::
Regarding the launching of GSAT-19E, Mr. Murthy said the GSLV Mk-III hardware was being assembled and other mission control processes were under way. “They have so far been flawless and we are confident of achieving perfection for the December launch,” he asserted.
Mr. Murthy said GSLV Mk-III would have a new cryogenic engine that can take payloads in excess of 4-plus tonnes into space with ease.
Simultaneous work was being done on the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, Mr. Murthy said, adding that extension of the life of Mars Orbiter Mission beyond the initial six-month mission was a major achievement of ISRO.
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The target is to take the payload capacity beyond four tonnes in the coming years
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