India plans to launch recoverable spacecraft capsule
Text of report by Indian news agency PTI
Bangalore, 2 July: India plans to send into space a 500 kg recoverable spacecraft capsule, a major milestone in its space programme, on one of ISRO’s forthcoming launches of the PSLV vehicle in 2004-05.
Officials at the Indian Space Research Organization said the capsule was proposed to be put in polar sun-synchronous orbit along with a co-passenger by one of the forthcoming Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV).
The main objective of launching the capsule, they said, was to carry out micro-gravity experiment in orbit and demonstrate technology of de-boost from orbit for re-entry and recovery from sea using flotation system.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Launch Vehicle Programme for India’, ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan confirmed development of such a module by space scientists and added that technological options were being explored to move towards cost-effective reusable launch vehicle (RLV) system for the future.
Officials at Bangalore-headquartered ISRO said development of basic technologies needed for future RLV has been envisaged.
Speaking on the 25-year space vision of the country, Kasturirangan said among the projects on the drawing board was a two stage-to-orbit launch vehicle that was expected to substantially cut down launch costs compared to the present three stage-to-orbit rockets.
“It’s in preliminary design stage,” he said.
Kasturirangan said work on developing geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle-Mk III which will have the capabilitiy to place a satellite of four tonnes into geo-synchronous transfer orbit, has begun.
The development of this advanced and more powerful version of the present GSLV was expected to be completed in 2007-08, he said at the lecture, organized as part of the 26th annual science festival by the Bangalore Science Forum.
Officials noted that development of GSLV-Mk III has been taken up targeting doubling the payload capacity of the present version.
He said the cryogenic upper stage project (CUSP), envisaging design and development of an indigenous cryogenic upper stage to replace the Russian-supplied cryogenic stage in the GSLV, was on.
It was also noted that the government has approved three GSLV operational flights during the Tenth Plan at a cost of 9.45bn rupees.
Meanwhile, ISRO was gearing up for the launch of its latest spacecraft INSAT-3E by an Ariane rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, slated for August.
INSAT-3E will carry communication transponders in C-band and Extended C-band, officials said, adding IRS-P6 (Resourcesat-1) was also planned to be launched by India’s own time-tested PSLV later this year.
IRS-P6 will not only provide service continuity to IRS-1C and IRS- 1D but also enhance the service capabilities in the areas of agriculture, disaster management, and land and water resources with better resolution imagery.