Chennai: The Indian space agency will be able to take its heavy rocket geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle-development 5(GSLV-D5) back to the rocket assembly building either Saturday or Sunday, a senior official said.
“Our current priority is to clean the rocket’s fuel systems and disconnect all the hoses and other connections to the second launch pad.
“This process would take a couple of days. We will be able to move the rocket to the assembly building Saturday or Sunday,” the official, preferring anonymity, said yesterday.
India’s spaceport is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80km from here.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Monday called off the launch of its GSLV rocket carrying the communication satellite GSAT-14, after the liquid fuel started leaking like a tap from the rocket’s second stage.
The GSLV is a three-stage launch vehicle with four strap-on motors hugging the first stage.
The first stage is powered by solid fuel, while the four strap-on motors and the second stage are powered by liquid fuel. The third is the cryogenic engine powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Another senior official said that the rocket’s engines would have to be decontaminated with ionised water and that would take two or three days.
The entire fuel in the rocket’s four strap-on motors, second and cryogenic engine had been drained out on Tuesday — other activities are in progress.
According to officials, only after studying the problem and the solution could revised launch time be estimated.
IANS
