India on Saturday successfully launched its heavy-duty rocket with indigenous cryogenic engine that placed a communication satellite into the orbit, with ISRO scientists finally taming the 'naughty boy' GSLV and propelling the country into an elite club of countries.
The mission, which cost around Rs 360 crore, is a major milestone for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after 'toiling' for 20 years and ended the jinx plaguing the GSLV programme which suffered twin back-to-back failures in 2010 while its launch in August last year was aborted at the last minute.
"This is another major achievement for the GSLV programme and I would say this is an important day for science and technology, for space technology in the country (as) 20 years of efforts in realising the cryogenic engine and stage has now fructified," a visibly relieved ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan said.
In a textbook launch, the 49.13-metre tall GSLV D5 rocket with an indigenous cryogenic engine and stage blasted off at 4.18 PM from Satish Dhawan Space Centre and injected the 1,982-kg GSAT-14 communication satellite into the intended orbit after 17.13 minutes flight.
With this launch, India became the sixth space agency in the world after the US, Russia, Japan, China and France to have joined the indigenous cryogenic regime. The technology will help to launch heavy satellites into geostationary orbit.
Congratulating the scientists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the launch marked 'another important step that the country has taken in the area of science and technology'.
Radhakrishnan said ISRO's 'toiling of 20 years, excruciating efforts of last three and half years' after its first test flight of the cryogenic engine and all the efforts by Team ISRO in the last few years in understanding Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and making it a liable vehicle showed the scientists' maturity.
He said his scientists had put their heart and soul to ensure this proud moment and that 'we feel we have repaid all our debt to our country'.
The two failures in 2010 - one in April and the other in December - were weighing on the minds of scientists even as last year's launch was called off following a fuel leak.
GSLV D5's scheduled launch on August 19 last year was called off in the eleventh hour after a fuel leak, following which ISRO moved the vehicle back to the Vehicle Assembly Building and rectified the defect.
The events prompted one of the senior scientists, Shivan, to quip that the 'naughty boy GSLV' had matured into an 'obedient one'.
Chronology of GSLV launches:
GSLV-D1 GSAT-1 April 18, 2001 Successful
GSLV-D2 GSAT-2 May 8, 2003 Successful
GSLV-F01 EDUSAT(GSAT-3) Sept 20, 2004 Successful
GSLV-F02 INSAT-4C July 10, 2006 Unsuccessful
GSLV-F04 INSAT-4CR September 2, 2007 Successful
GSLV-D3 GSAT-4 April 15, 2010 Unsuccessful
GSLV-F06 GSAT-5P December 25, 2010 Unsuccessful
GSLV D5 GSAT-14 January 5, 2014 Successful
ISRO plans more GSLVs and experimental Mark III launches
Enthused over its successful launch of GSLV D5 with GSAT-14 communication satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here today, ISRO is planning a series of GSLV launches and an experimental launch of the advanced version GSLV Mark III soon from the spaceport.
"We are going for a series of GSLVs after this succesful launch. GSAT 6, GSAT 7, GSAT 9, GISAT 7, Chandrayaan 2 and two more communication satellites. In the end of 2014 or in early 2015, we will have the next GSLV launch," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan told reporters here.
To a query on how many more successful launches would GSLV need to become reliable, he said "This launch has reached the level of maturity. However one more successful launch of GSLV would make it reliable."
With today's launch, ISRO is confident of launching satellites weighing up to 2.2 tonnes, he said, adding that the satellites from India weighing above the mark would have to be launched through other space agencies abroad. This implies that two-tonne satellites like GSAT-6, 7, 9 and 10 can be launched on board a GSLV, whereas 3.5-tonne satellites like GSAT-15,16,17 and 18 needed to be launched from abroad.
To a query on the status of Chandrayaan 2, he said the lander and rover for the mission were being developed indigenously and it would be launched on board a GSLV.
ISRO was also busy conducting a series of tests in developing the Mark III version of GSLV at Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu, he said. "We would also have an experimental launch of GSLV Mark III soon to understand the behaviour of the vehicle in flight," the chairman said.
An ISRO team is examining the possibility of setting up a launch site at Kulasekarapattinam in south Tamil Nadu, he said, replying to a query.
Another team headed by Prof Badri Narayanamurthy is studying the third launch pad at Sriharikota, since launch vehicles like GSLV Mark III can be launched only from the second launch pad, unlike PSLVs and GSLVs, he said. "We are also working on unified launch vehicle with booster stage series cryogenic engine," Radhakrishnan said.
The year 2014-15 would also see launch of navigational satellites IRNSS-IB, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, IRNSS-1E on board PSLVs. "By March 2015, we would have five of the total seven satellites on orbit. We can start using benefits of IRNSS with four satellites on orbit, but all seven would give a better coverage," he said.
He said ISRO's Mars Orbiter mission was travelling 9.5 million km from Earth in normal health and was on schedule to reach Mars' orbit in September this year.
