India's make-or-break countdown for joining cryogenic rocket club begins

[Vikrant]

Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh: As countdown begins, feverish work is underway at India's space port in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota as the Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO prepares for a landmark launch of its heavy rocket, the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The rocket had suffered a spectacular back-to-back failure three years ago forcing the abortion of the launch at the last minute.

For the second time, India will be using an Indian-made cryogenic engine while launching the advanced communications satellite. In its last attempt in August, it had a near-fatal mishap when a fuel leak was detected in the nick of time and the launch stopped an hour before liftoff.

ISRO scientists had found to their horror that about 750 kilograms of highly inflammable and explosive fuel had actually leaked out from the second stage.

"We have had a mixed bag of results of the GSLV in the earlier seven flights. All necessary corrections have been done on the GSLV and the cryogenic engine now we have now done our best expect it to be successful flight," K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO told NDTV.

If all goes well, this trial by fire could mark the first steps towards India's entry into the multi-billion dollar commercial launcher market on a fully indigenous large rocket. A sophisticated new Indian technology called the cryogenic engine will be flown for the second time.

The India-made Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle powers the rocket, standing almost 50 meters tall - as high as a 17-storey building - and weighing 415 tons or as much 80 full grown elephants.

It is a three-stage rocket.

At liftoff, the first stage ignites using one of the world's largest solid fuel motors. The first stage separates and the second stage powered by a liquid engine takes over while the heat shield is shed.

At about 130 kilometers above the earth, the second stage separates and the all-important cryogenic engine takes over. Using cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as fuel, the engine helps launch heavier satellites into space. After a 17-minute flight the satellite is expected to be put into its designated orbit above earth.

India's larger rocket has had only two successful flights; this will be the eight time it is being flown in 13 years. Four years ago on April 15, 2010, a disaster struck the GSLV program on when an India-made cryogenic engine failed.

Then on Christmas Day the same year, a rocket was destroyed in mid-air as ISRO lost its control.

In these four years, ISRO has built new facilities to test the cryogenic engine, redesigned some of the crucial components and has finally mustered courage to have another go. It took India more than 20 years to develop this cryogenic engine technology which was denied to India.

The Rs. 350-crore mission, which will hoist a sophisticated experimental communications satellite, is a gentle reminder that space remains a risky business and that denial of technology failed to work against India.

India's make-or-break countdown for joining cryogenic rocket club begins | NDTV.com

 

[Vikrant]

Congratulations to India for breaking into the Cryogenic Engine club!

Rocket carries India into select space club with indigenous cryogenic engine technology - The Economic Times

 

[Vikrant]

India successfully launches cutting-edge cryogenic rocket


The 415-tonne rocket deployed a two-tonne advanced communications satellite some 17 minutes after blast-off.

India on Sunday successfully launched its first rocket using domestically produced booster technology after several previous missions had failed, taking another step forward in its ambitious space programme.

The Indian-made cryogenically-powered rocket blasted off from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota as scheduled, as Delhi tries to join an elite club of countries which have mastered the complex technology.

The 415-tonne rocket deployed a two-tonne advanced communications satellite some 17 minutes after blast-off, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan.

“I am extremely proud and happy to say that Team ISRO has done it,” Radhakrishnan announced at mission control in Andhra Pradesh state, sparking a roar of applause from colleagues.

“Team ISRO and the project directors all have put their heart and soul in making this proud moment for the country,” he said.

India has for years been trying to develop its own cryogenic rocket engines that are designed to put heavier satellites into high orbits, about 36,000 kilometres from Earth.

The powerful booster technology, using super-cooled liquid fuel, is a much needed tool to help India capture a larger share of the lucrative global market for launching commercial satellites.

But the technology has only been successfully developed by a handful of countries including the United States, Russia, France, Japan and China as well as the European Space Agency.

India’s project has had to overcome a string of hurdles and mishaps, including an aborted launch in August last year several hours before lift-off after fuel was found to be leaking from one of the rocket’s engines.

The first India-built rocket crashed into the Bay of Bengal just minutes after take-off in April 2010 after the cryogenic engines failed to ignite.

“If we succeed this time, India will join a select club of space-faring nations with indigenous cryogenic engine capability to launch above two-tonne class satellites,” ISRO director Deviprasad Karnik said before the launch.

“The twin purpose of this launch mission is to flight-test once again our own cryogenic engine and put into the geostationary orbit a heavy communication satellite,” Karnik added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated the team on Sunday’s mission, which cost 3.65 billion rupees ($58 million) — 2.2 billion rupees for the rocket and 1.45 billion rupees for the satellite.

“It is yet another important step that the country has taken in the area of science and technology,” Singh said in a tweet.

In November India successfully lifted into orbit a spacecraft bound for Mars as it tries to become the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet.

It has taken ISRO scientists years to develop cryogenic motors after India’s attempt to import the technology from Russia in 1992 failed because of opposition from the United States.

Since 2001 India has bought cryogenic engines from Russia and seven of them have been used on missions.

An Indian space rocket using a Russian-built booster exploded shortly after launch in December 2010, also during a mission to put an advanced communications satellite into space.

ISRO pushed ahead with developing its own engine, including the third and final part, fuelled with a mix of oxygen and hydrogen in liquid form and kept at a very low temperature.

“A cryogenic rocket stage is more efficient and provides more thrust for every kilogram of propellant it burns compared to other solid and liquid fuel stages,” Karnik said.

India’s first satellite launch, of an Italian satellite, was in 2007.

The country sees its space programme as an achievement that highlights its emergence as a major world economy, and many citizens take great pride in it.

But the cost of the programme has attracted criticism as the government struggles to tackle poverty and child malnutrition.

India successfully launches cutting-edge cryogenic rocket - Khaleej Times

 

[Vikrant]

TIRUNELVELI:GSLV MK-3, high power integrated cryogenic engine, was hot tested successfully at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, Tirunelveli district on Saturday.

IPRC Director D. Karthikesan said as part of an important milestone in developing a heavy lift launch vehicle, GSLV MK-3, for the next generation, a major milestone was achieved when the cryogenic CE-20 engine was hot tested.

It was successfully tested for 20 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex(IPRC), Mahendragiri on Saturday.

“It is yet another milestone achievement on the road map of developing a bigger and more powerful indigenously built high thrust cryogenic upper stage for GSLV MK3 rocket for the Indian Space Programme,” said Karthikesan.

The Cryogenic CE-20 engine was a fully indigenous engine of ISRO and delivered a thrust of 20 tonnes. All the major parameters of CE-20 engine were normal and further tests were planned in the coming months, he added.

IPRC scientists said it was tested at around 3-45pm.

Various subsystems of CE-20, such as injector, thrust chamber, gas generator, LOX and LH2 turbo pumps were tested earlier at IPRC, Mahendragiri.

Hot Test of Cryogenic Engine Successful Says ISRO -The New Indian Express

 

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India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle has successfully deployed a communications satellite Thursday, with the rocket’s ninth flight lofting the GSAT-6 spacecraft. The launch was on schedule at 16:52 local time (11:22 UTC) with the launch taking place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island.

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Indian GSLV launches with GSAT-6 | NASASpaceFlight.com