ISRO will launch its GSLV Mk-III X / CARE Mission, the first experimental suborbital flight of India’s latest generation Launch Vehicle- GSLV Mk-III, next Thursday, December 18, 2014 between 9am and 12pm window from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota and has sought applications for media coverage of the event.
The mission, close on the heels of similar mission successfully conducted by China twom months ago, will propel India into the club of US, Russia, Europe and China with creditable re-entry capable space mission.
With this, ISRO will achieve the next edge in terms carrying out its own manned mission in the future as the manned mission to Moon is on its radar for quite sometime. The Indian Space Reserch Organization’s successful Mars mission this year has raised eye brows of many other nations and the confidence levels on ISRO are very high now.
The launch of advanced Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-MIII) on December 18 will also help the space agency to carry its own heavyload satellites in the future and depend less on procured rockets from Arianespace that lofted the GSAT-16 recently into the geo-synchronous orbit.
Once successfully tested, GSLV Mk III can carry heavy payloads, satellites of INSAT-4 class weighing 4500 to 5000 kg and also enhance the capability to take up the multimillion dollar commercial launch missions.
The mission can be described as a “Mini Orion” test for India, after the successful US launch of Orion with similar experiment to send a misssion to Mars in 2017.
GSLV-Mk III is a three stage vehicle, measuring 42.4 m tall with a lift off weight of 630 tonnes. Its first stage comprises two identical S200 Large Solid Booster (LSB) with 200 tonne solid propellant, that are strapped on to the second stage, the L110 re-startable liquid stage and the third stage is the C25 LOX/LH2 cryo stage.
ISRO is banking on new advanced parachutes tested successfully in Dehradun and Trivandrum to manage control the re-entry speed of the mission to land in to the waters off Bay of Bengal for recovery.
