India’s heaviest rocket launcher GSLV (Geosynchronous Launch
Vehicle) Mark III successfully blasted off on its maiden flight from Satish
Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on Dec
18th. The liftoff was flawless bolstering India’s ambitions of manned space
missions. The 155 crore mission designated LVM3 was conceived to study the
flight validation of the newly developed GSLV Mark III and to test the ability
of CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) module to enter earth’s
atmosphere with thermal resistance, parachute deployment in cluster formation,
aerobraking systems and apex cover separation procedures. GSLV Mark III is the
third generation upgraded vehicle marking the third generation of India’s
orbital launch systems. It is designed to place 10 tonnes of pay load into Low
Earth Orbit (LEO) or 4 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Till now
India’s, workhorse PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) with its reliability in delivering
small satellites earned not only great repute but revenues to the country. With
this success India’s dependability on foreign launch vehicles will be reduced
saving millions of dollars expended for deploying bigger payloads. India can
emerge as a smart scientific power in the business of global satellite
launching.
India’s
odyssey to space began in 1979 with an unsuccessful attempt to launch Rohini
Technology pay load (RTP) using the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) whose payload
carrying capacity was only 90 kilograms. It was soon replaced with an upgraded
version of Augmented Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV),
a five stage engine with solid and liquid fuels that could carry a pay load of
150 kg. However, the ASLV development plans were aborted soon as ISRO made a mid-course
correction to move over directly to develop the next genre of launch vehicle,
PSLV capable of
launching 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit or 1050
kg satellite in GTO. PSLV has four stages that use solid and liquid
propulsion systems alternatively. With an exception of maiden unsuccessful
flight, since its inception in 1993, PSLV successfully launched 58 (23 Indian
and 35 foreign) satellites.
GSLV was
introduced in 2001 to enable India to deploy its own communication satellites
of INSAT-4 class. The
vital final/third stage of GSLV, is cryogenic stage, which is highly efficient than
the liquid stage in PSLV. Despite concerted efforts, the success rate with GSLV
has been 37.5%. GSLV mission received a major boost with flawless deployment of
GSAT-14 in January 2014. GSLV Mark-III is the next generation rocket and its
current sub-orbital flight is aimed at validating the two stages of the rocket.
The cryogenic third stage is passive.
LVM3 weighing 630 tonnes and 42.4 meters at liftoff is a
three stage rocket. The first stage contains two S200 Large Solid Boosters
(LSB’s) that burn 207 tonnes of solid propellant- mixture of ammonium
percholate, aluminium and hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and fired
for 130 seconds. The second stage is liquid or L110 powered by two Vikas
engines derived from France’s Viking series used on Ariane rockets. It burns
asymmetrical dimethyhydrazine (UDMH) oxidised by dinitrogen tetraoxide and will
be air-lit two minutes after the rocket lifts off under the pressure of two
solid boosters. The Third stage designated as C25 powered by CE20 engine
burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. During the current flight, it is
inert and loaded with liquid nitrogen to stimulate propellant.
The payload is the Crew module, a prototype capsule designed
by ISRO for India’s manned space programmes. The primary objective of the crew
mission is to validate the re-entry and recovery of the spacecraft. The 3,735kg
cup cake shaped capsule capable to carrying 3 crew members is attached to the
third stage upside down and flew without the service module that accompanies
manned missions. By launching upside down, ISRO hopes to simply the CARE
mission and increase the chances of success. This is the second spacecraft to
undergo a flight test this month. Earlier on December 5th NASA
carried out Exploration Flight Test 1 to validate the Orion spacecraft. But
NASA’s Orion was highly sophisticated than CARE and made two orbital trips
around earth and made a re-entry from apogee of 5880 km. Even the re-entry
velocity of Orion was much higher. But both mission had similar objectives of
testing the spacecraft’s performance during re-entry and validating recovery
procedures. GSLV accelerated CARE to a speed of 5.3 km/sec and it separated
from the vehicle at an apogee of 126 km. After separation from the vehicle,
CARE activated its control systems. Following its entry preface with earth,
drogue parachutes were deployed which slowed the descent of the capsule and
main parachutes swung into action when it was 3 km from above the Indian Ocean.
Capsule splashed 180 km away from South of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The
next flight of GSLV Mark III is scheduled for 2016 when its cryogenic phase
will be ready.
ISRO with its relentless scientific pursuits has opened up
new vistas for scientific exploration. This glorious accomplishment would augur
missions like Chandrayaan-2 and human space missions. But the dream of putting
Indian astronauts into space and its feasibility is still highly debated and is
subjected to allocation of 12,500 Crores from the government.
CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) module
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