India on Monday leapfrogged into a select group of nations having their own indigenous cryogenic engine technology, when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched its heaviest launch vehicle, GSLV MkIII-D1, and placed the country’s heaviest satellite till date, GSAT-19, into a precise orbit.
The GSAT-19, a communication satellite, expected to enhance India’s communication infrastructure, was placed into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), 16 minutes after launch, with a perigee (closest point to Earth) 170 km and apogee (farthest point from Earth) 35,975 km. It will take about two to three weeks to be placed in its intended orbit.
The satellite weighs 3,136 kg. This successful launch will enable India to launch 4-tonne class satellites from India. These were earlier launched from launch pads abroad.
ISRO has been trying to master development of an indigenous cryogenic for decades and has used indigenous cryogenic engines on earlier GSLV flights but modelled mainly on Russian design.
On this GSLV, no technological element was borrowed or adapted from any other space organisation.
The GSAT-19 carries a Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders.
It also carries a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of charged particles and the influence of space radiation on satellites and their electronic components, according to ISRO.
Work is on to launch two approved missions — Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-II — in the next two years.
“Chandrayaan will be [launched] in the first quarter of next year, and Aditya… around 2018-19.”
The ‘Aditya-L1’ will be placed in the halo orbit around the ‘Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system, according to ISRO.
