CHENNAI, Jan 4:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for the launch of GSLV-D5, carrying the 1982 kg communication satellite GSAT-14, from its spaceport at Sriharikota, about 80 km from here, tomorrow, with the commencement of the 29-hour countdown.
ISRO sources told reporters the countdown for the launch began at 1118 hrs this morning and progressing well.
The home-made rocket, with its own cryogenic stage, would lift off from the Second Launch Pad at 1618 hrs tomorrow.
If the mission succeeds, India will join a select group of space-faring countries in mastering the complex cryo technology.
During the countdown, the process of filling up liquid propellants in the second stage and in the four strap-on motors attached to the first stage and the cryogenic stage would be carried out.
All mandatory checks would also be carried out during the countdown, the spokesperson said.
The 49.13 m tall three-stage vehicle, with a lift off mass of 414.75 tonnes, is the eight flight of GSLV and the fourth development flight of GSLV.
During this Mission, the first GSLV Mission in four years for ISRO after the twin failures in 2010 including the maiden test flight of Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) in April, the indigenously developed CUS would be flight tested for the second time.
The sources said 17 minutes after the lift off, the GSAT-14, India’s 23rd geostationary communication satellite, would be injected into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) with a perigee (closest to earth) of 180 km and an apogee (farthest from earth) of 35,975 km with an inclination of 19.3 deg.
After reaching the GTO, GSAT-14 would use its own propulsion systems to reach its geostationary orbital home.
It would help in providing many satellite-based communication services to the country, including tele-education and telemedicine.
After its injection into the GTO, ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan would take control of GSAT-14 for performing the initial orbit raising manoeuvres in three steps, firing the satellite’s Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) and finally placing it in the circular Geostationary Orbit.
After this, the deployment of the antennae and three axis stabilisation of the satellite will be performed. The GSAT-14 will be positioned at 74 deg East longitude and co-located with INSAT-3C, INSAT-4CR and KALPANA-1 satellites.
The 12 communication transponders onboard GSAT-14 would further augment the capacity in the INSAT/GSAT system.
The much-awaited launch was earlier scheduled for August 19 last year but was called off following a leak observed in the UH25 fuel system of the second stage during the pre-launch pressurization phase on the vehicle just two hours before the scheduled lift-off.
All the propellants from the Cryogenic Upper Stage and the second stage were drained out following the leak and the second stage was developed afresh with a different metal and some critical components were changed in the four strap-on motors attached to the First Stage.
The cuboid shaped GSAT-14 is the 23rd geostationary communication satellite built by ISRO. Four of GSAT-14’s predecessors were launched by GSLV during 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007 respectively.
After its commissioning, GSAT-14, with a mission life of 12 years, would join the group of India’s nine operational geostationary satellites.
The main objectives of GSAT-14 mission were to augment the in-orbit capacity of Extended C and Ku-band transponders and to provide a platform for new experiments.
Some of the new experiments being flown on GSAT-14 included Fiber Optic Gyro, Active Pixel Sun Sensor, Ka-band beacon propagation studies and Thermal control coating experiments.
With its second indigenously developed cryo stage, this would be the first GSLV mission for ISRO in four years after the twin failures in 2010.
The first indigenous cryo stage, developed by ISRO, failed on April 15, 2010 due to a problem in the fuel booster turbo pump.
It was mixed luck for ISRO as far as the GSLV was concerned as two of its previous launches ended up in failure.
After the flight test of India’s own cryo engine failed on April 15, 2010, the next GSLV-F06 mission (using Russian cryo stage) to place GSAT-5P satellite on Christmas Day the same year was aborted after the vehicle veered off the trajectory due to failure of connectors.
In this context, the success of this GSLV mission was all the more crucial as it would not only propel the Indian Space Agency in joining select club of space faring nations in mastering the cryo technology but would also give a major boost to the country in developing the GSLV-Mark III vehicle to launch heavier satellites.
GSLV-Mark III was conceived and designed to make ISRO fully self-reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class weighing 4500 kg to 5000 kg. (UNI)
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