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GSLV to fly in 2000

The first flight of the Indian Space Research Organisation's much-delayed Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle is now slated for the first quarter of 2000.

The GSLV is to use an upper cryogenic stage from Russia to put a 2500-kg satellite in the geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the earth. It was to be launched this year, going by the ISRO calendar but was delayed due to sanctions imposed on India.

ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan said the launch was likely to take place next year.

Russia, which had earlier agreed to a joint development programme of the crucial cryogenic upper stage with India, backed out following sanctions imposed by the United States.

However, it later agreed to provide seven cryogenic engines to the country. The first of these engines had already arrived, paving the way for the first two stages of the GSLV launch, which is likely to be similar to the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Kasturirangan said work on the GSLV would begin immediately after the launch of the PSLV-C2, which is scheduled to take off from Sriharikota in the last quarter of May. The PSLV-C2 is to launch the first Indian Ocean study satellite, Oceansat-I. Two satellites, from Germany and Korea respectively, are to ride piggyback on Oceansat-I.

The first flight of the GSLV, being developed at a sanctioned cost of Rs 11.05 billion, will carry the experimental GSAT-1, that is aimed at demonstrating advanced communication technologies such as digital audio, data and video broadcasting. The payload includes two S-band transponders, a high power C-band transponder and two indigenously developed C-band transponders.

The three-stage GSLV that will put Insat class satellites in geosynchronous transfer orbit has a three-stage configuration. The first two stages will depend on the technology similar to that used in the PSLV, using an additional four liquid strap-ons. It uses the same Vikas engine as the PSLV.

The GSLV-D1 will lift off from Sriharikota, which is acquiring a second launch pad that can help launch advanced vehicles capable of a payload of four tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit. The second launch pad was being built at a cost of Rs 2.89 billion.

Meanwhile, preparations are on in full swing for the launch of the second operational flight of the PSLV series (PSLV-C2) that will be put into sun synchronous orbit, the IRS-P4 (the Oceansat-1) along with two other small satellites.

Kasturirangan said the IRS-P4 was now being tested and is likely to be ready shortly for shipment to Sriharikota. The launch vehicle stages were all ready for integration with the launch vehicle. The micro German satellite, the 50 kg Tubsat, had already reached Sriharikota. The other payload, the 100 kg Kitsat of Korea, is still to come in. Kasturirangan said the PSLV-C2 would lift off in the last week of May.

He said corrective actions had been taken for the PSLV-C2 flight after a detailed post-flight analysis of the first operational flight, whose fourth stage, had recorded under-performance due to malfunctioning of the pressure regulation system.

Asked about the indigenous development of the cryogenic engines, Kasturirangan said the project, taken up at a sanctioned cost of Rs 3.36 billion, was making "most satisfactory progress".

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