It's destination Mars for ISRO

-

After the moon, it is destination Mars for the Indian space agency. Work on the next generation launch vehicle Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, planned for a 2011 launch, took a big leap with the ground test of liquid core stage late on Friday.

Scientists conducted the static test or ground firing of its liquid core stage (L110) of GSLV Mk III launch vehicle for 150 seconds, monitoring about 500 parameters, at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) test facility at Mahendragiri on March 5, 2010, evening. The next static test for 200 seconds will be conducted after analysis of this data.

title=

The next-gen rocket is world's third largest in fuel mass and length and its 200-ton 25-m long solid propellant rocket booster - next only to US and Europe space shuttles -- has been developed in house.

Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] officials say the new 42m or 12-storey building high 6.3 ton rocket can put a four-ton satellite in orbit while also packing more transponders in one space flight. The GSLV Mk-III can also be used for the 2015 human spaceflight besides sending meaningful probes to Mars and other inter-planetary missions.

ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan told India Today that the agency, operating on a Rs 5,000-crore shoestring budget, has planned major milestones in the future. Last year, the agency was all over the moon with the successful Chandrayaan-1 moon mission and achieved a big high putting into orbit ten satellites on a single Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), becoming the first country to achieve the feat; while eight satellites were foreign two - Cartosat-2 and Indian Mini Satellite - were made in India.

Measuring 17 meters in length and 4 meters in diameter, L110 is an earth storable liquid propellant stage with a propellant loading of 110 tons. With GSLV Mk-III intended to launch heavy satellites into geostationary orbit India will also become less reliant on foreign rockets for heavy lifting. This rocket also comes at a time when the US had prevailed upon Russia, citing the Missile Technology Control Regime [MTCR],  not to transfer to India the Russian made cryogenic engine that had powered GSLV-1 forcing Indian scientists to develop an indigenous one.

We are on for very exciting times indeed, said Radhakrishnan who took over from Madhavan Nair late last year. The sky is not the limit for the Indian space agency whose budget is less than a tenth of NASA.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Indigenous tank T-90 Bhishma rolls out

-
Image
The first batch of the indigenously built T-90 Bhishma tanks was on Monday (August 24) flagged off by Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju at the rolling out ceremony held at the Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi, in Chennai. The T-90S tank incorporates many new technologies in terms of mobility, protection, fighting capabilities, safety and communication. The tank is equipped with 125mm smooth bore gun stabilised in Elevation and Azimuth, 12.7mm anti-craft machine gun and 7.62mm co-axial machine gun supported with high accuracy sighting systems and Automatic Loader ensuring high rate of fire. A significant feature of this tank is its capability to fire guided missile in addition to conventional ammunition using the same main gun barrel. The integrated fire control system consisting of the gunner’s sight, guided weapon system and ballistic computer facilitates accurate firing of conventional ammunitions as well as the guided missiles. The built in Explosive Reactive Arm
Read more

Restriction of officiating pay under FR 35 - clarification - regarding

-
No.F.1/4/2009-Estt(Pay-I) Government of India Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Department of Personnel & Training New Delhi the 8th March, 2010. OFFICE MEMORANDUM Subject: Restriction of officiating pay under FR 35 - clarification - regarding. The undersigned is directed to say that in terms of the provisions contained in Fundamental Rule 35, the Central Government may fix the pay of an officiating Government Servant at an amount less than that admissible under the Fundamental Rules. Accordingly, orders have been issued from time to time indicating the circumstances and the extent to which provisions of FR 35 would apply. ThisDepartment's OM NO. 18/7/98-Estt (Pay-I) dated 15th December, 1998 lays down the ceilings based on the pay scales sanctioned by the Government on the recornendation of the Fifth Central Pay Comission. 2. The question of revising these ceilings consequent upon implementation of CCS(RP) Rules, 2008, which have replaced
Read more

Loitering Munition developed by Solar Industries tested successfully

-
Image
Indian Army will soon get to use India made Loitering Munitions. In a first by a private industry ‘Loitering Munitions’ has been successfully tested at high altitude in Ladakh. Economic Explosives Ltd (EEL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Solar Industries India Ltd., has developed ‘Loitering Munitions’ and tested it in association with Bengaluru based Z Motion Autonomous Pvt. Ltd. The company claims that all three newly developed loitering munitions, including the Hexacopter, LM1 and LM0, were successfully tested last month in Ladakh's Nubra Valley. During tests, the LM1 and LM0 were able to maintain full endurance for 60 minutes. The Hexacopter made history by being the first in the world to successfully test Man-Portable Loiter Munitions with a 4 kg warhead at a flight ceiling of 4500 metres. The Army Design Bureau made this possible. More than 80% of the content is indigenous, and it complies with international quality and safety standards. When compared to imported goods, the com
Read more