India's heaviest rocket GSLV-Mark III successfully test-fired

Written By Admin on December 18, 2014 | Thursday, December 18, 2014

* Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 18 December 2014 successfully conducted an experimental test-flight of GSLV MK III carrying a crew module, to be used in future manned space missions.

* GSLV MK III, which is the heaviest launch vehicle Isro has ever made, lifted off from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 9.30am.

* "We have completed the first experimental test-flight of GSLV Mark III. The performance of solid and liquid propulsion stages happened as expected. The crew module has plunged into the sea. The next developmental flight of the launch vehicle will be done in the next two years," Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said.

* The GSLV's integral cryogenic engine phase was in a passive state and the suborbital test-flight was conducted mainly to test the flight validation of the launch vehicle and its new telemetric systems, apart from the atmospheric reentry pattern and thermal resistance of the module during the Crew Module Atmosphereic Re-entry Experiment (CARE).

* The rocket soared from the launch pad after a 24-hour countdown that commenced on Wednesday morning. The crew module separated from the rocket at an altitude of 126 km and then re-entered into the earth's atmosphere at 80 km. It then followed an uncontrolled trajectory into the Bay of Bengal about 180 km off the Andaman Nicobar Islands.

* GSLV Mark III is being projected as Isro's most advanced launch vehicle capable of injecting heavier satellites like GSAT 19e. The 630.5 tonne rocket has two active solid and liquid propulsion stages, S 200 and L110 respectively in addition to its cryogenic engine C 25 X which in in a passive state.