Chennai: India will test-fly its heaviest and upgraded rocket — the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-Mark III) — on December 18, space agency ISRO said yesterday.
According to a tweet by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the 630-tonne rocket will be powered by liquid and solid fuel engines while the cryogenic stage/engine will be a passive one.
The rocket will also carry a crew module to test its re-entry characteristics.
“The main purpose of the mission is to test the atmospheric characteristics and stability of the rocket on its way up. We also decided to use this opportunity to test one component of the crew module - a human space mission that India may embark on at a later date,” M Y S Prasad, director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, told reporters in a recent interaction.
The experimental mission will cost `1.5bn and will not carry any satellite as the cryogenic engine needed for the purpose is still under development, he said.
“The cryogenic engine is under development and will take more two years to be ready,” he said.
As the other rocket engines are ready, ISRO decided to go ahead with this mission.
“This will be India’s new launch vehicle. It is bigger and can carry satellites up to four tonnes,” said GSLV Mark III project director S Somanath.
As for the crew module, it will not carry any living being and is only for study purposes.
IANS
