The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will blast off its heaviest rocket GSLV Mark-III-D1 on June 5 carrying a communication satellite GSAT-19 into space. The rocket would be fired at 5:28 pm from second launch pad at the rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Said to be a ‘game-changer’ in rocket technology, The GSLV Mark-III ill be India’s most powerful launch vehicle.
Here is what you need to know:
1) The rocket is called fat boy as it is country’ heaviest but smallest launch vehicle.
2) It is 43.43 metres long, 4 metres round and weighs nearly 640 kg.
3) The rocket would carry communication satellite GSAT-19 weighing 3,136 kg.
4) Currently, ISRO rockets have the capability to launch satellites up to 2.2 tons. GSLV Mark-III-D1, almost double the capacity of GSLV Mark II, has a capacity to lift a four ton satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).
5) Various components of the new launch vehicle underwent over 200 tests before deemed fit for the mission.
6) It could very well be, India’s first step towards sending an Indian manned mission to space. Its high carrying capacity makes it capable of launching a manned mission. At present, USA, Russia and China are the only countries in the world capable of launching a manned mission
7) It is a three-stage vehicle with two solid motor strap-ons, a liquid propellant core stage and a cryogenic stage (C25).
8) The vehicle is configured with a 5-metre ogive payload fairing and a slanted strap-on nose cone to provide aerodynamic robustness.
9) The rocket also have India’s largest cryogenic engine that has been designed by space agency’s Liquid propulsion system centre.
10) The new rocket will also enable Isro to launch communications spacecraft to geostationary orbits of 36,000 kms from India.
11) India has been paying a hefty price for European rockets that can lift satellites weighing over 2,000 kg. But with the latest rocket, its dependency on foreign rockets will largely reduce.
About the satellite
1) GSAT-19 carries Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders.
2) The satellite will also have Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft and electronic components, reports Times of India.
3) The satellite would also employ advanced spacecraft technologies including bus subsystem experiments in electrical propulsion system, indigenous Li ion battery and indigenous bus bars for power distribution, among others.
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