Photo:
ISRO tweet
Only one national
English news channel apart from Doordarshan sent its crew to cover the launch
of GSLV-D6 at Sriharikota on August 27. The others, preoccupied with the Sheena
Bora murder story and the plot surrounding the sordid case, even relegated the
news of the successful launch to the ticker.
But the
less-celebrated textbook launch of GSLV-D6 was by far one of the most
significant moments in the history of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV) programme. When the launch vehicle injected the satellite
(GSAT-6) weighing 2.2 tonne into its precise orbit at the end of its brief
17.04-minute flight, the message to rest of the world was clear – India has
built and validated a perfectly working cryogenic engine. And the highly
complicated engine has delivered a perfect performance on flight not once but
twice (GSLV-D6 was the second successful launch using the indigenously
developed cryogenic engine after the January 2014 launch). This, despite
sanctions and restrictions (on transfer of dual use technologies) thrown at the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by developed nations who were clearly
not comfortable with the idea of another player entering their select grouping
that had the capability to launch heavy communication satellites.
A series of failures
for varied reasons since 2006 had put enormous pressure on ISRO’s GSLV
programme and the morale of scientists working on it took a beating. But they
laboured on. This success would add to their confidence in a big way and it was
already visible in their body language at the GSLV-D6 post-launch press
conference. With the design of the launch vehicle and the working of the
cryogenic engine validated, ISRO has begun to talk about the commercial
opportunities.
Space agencies of
developed nations have reason to be worried about Indian space programme in
general and GSLV’s success in particular. Consider this: It cost ISRO $36
million to put GSAT-6 using GSLV-D6 in orbit. This is far lower than the $60
million cost that the European Space Agency’s Ariane 5 entails. ISRO says it is
now ready to launch commercial satellites weighing up to 2.2 tonne.
What next?
ISRO has
to keep launching more GSLVs to establish the reliability of the launch
vehicle. Its customers who are investing multi-million dollars in building
advanced satellites are not going to hand over them to ISRO simply on the basis
of lower cost. Reliability is the key in this business and it comes from
repeated textbook launches. If ISRO’s smaller launch vehicle PSLV (Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle) is attracting orders in droves it is because it has
been in service for 20 years and has had 29 continuous successful launches.
ISRO has decided to
launch two GSLVs a year. But this is easier said than done and requires the
agency to augment its capacity dramatically. It has already announced plans to
build a third launch pad and create another vehicle assembly facility. ISRO is
also working to reduce the lead time to launch. GSLV-D6 was launched in a
record time of 100 days when the first part of the launch vehicle reached
Sriharikota. If the agency is planning to increase the number of launches, this
will have to reduce further. China, experts say, manages as many as 25 launches
a year compared to India’s five.
Apart from creating
the capabilities to increase the frequency of launches, ISRO is also working to
tweak GSLV to enable it to carry a higher payload. Work is on to reduce the
weight of the launch vehicle which will then make it possible to put a 2.5
tonne payload. The weight of GSLV-D6 (excluding the fuel and payload) was 53
tonne.
The next real
technology leap for ISRO is GSLV Mark III which will have the capability to put
satellites weighing 5 tonne in orbit. It is a much larger vehicle weighing 640
tonne (GSLV-D6 in comparison weighed 416 tonne). ISRO is developing a bigger
cryogenic engine for this vehicle and it has now been tested for 800 seconds.
In December last, the agency had successfully launched GSLV Mark III without
the cryogenic stage to validate the functioning of the first and the second
stage of the rocket. GSLV Mark III now awaits its cryogenic engine. If GSLV
Mark III succeeds, India will gain the capability to launch any communication
satellites in the world. GSLV-D6’s success gives the confidence that it is only
a matter of time before that will happen too.
