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| India-Pakistan |
| India tests new space launch vehicle and crew module |
| 2014-12-18 |
| Dot 9.30 am, India's first experimental flight GSLV Mark III took off successfully from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota on Thursday. Also known as LVM3/CARE, this suborbital experimental mission was intended to test the vehicle performance during the critical atmospheric phase of its flight and this carried passive (non functional) cryogenic upper stage. "Everything went off as expected. This new launch vehicle performed very well and is a great success. We had an unmanned crew module to understand re-entry characteristics. That also went off successfully and it has touched down in the Bay of Bengal," said ISRO’s chief K. Radhakrishnan. In exactly about five and half minutes after taking off, the vehicle carried its payload — the 3775 kg crew module Atmospheric Re-entry experiment (CARE) — to the intended height of 126 km. Two massive S-200 solid strap-on boosters, each carrying 207 tonnes of solid propellants, ignited at the vehicle lift off and after functioning normally, separated 153.5 seconds later. L110 liquid stage ignited 120 seconds after lift off, while S200s were still functioning for the next 204.6 seconds. CARE separated from the passive C25 cryogenic upper stage of GSLV Mark III 330.8 seconds after lift off and began its guided descent for atmospheric re-entry. The CARE module landed over Andaman Sea about 1,600 km from Sriharikota, this was the finishing line. Following this the CARE separated from the upper stage of GSLV Mark III and re-entered the atmosphere and safely landed over Bay of Bengal with the help of its parachutes about 20 minutes 43 second after lift off. "As it made it's way back into our atmosphere the parachutes that brought it down really worked well and we are pleased with the performance. This is a step towards manned space flight as the module that has been designed to carry astronauts has touched down safely. The coast guard ships that were 100 km away from the touchdown point lost sight of it briefly, but the module continued to communicate it's location to us," said Unnikrishnan Nair, the man behind the Manned Space Flight mission. With today’s successful launch, the vehicle has moved a step closer to its first development flight with the functional C25 cryogenic stage. “The payload capabilities that we can now handle have been significantly enhanced. After the success of the dummy stage cry engine tested in this rocket, we will have greater confidence to put the cryogenic engine in it within 2 years," said S. Somanath, Mission Director of LVM-3. |
| Posted by:John Frum |
| #3 Write up at NASA Spaceflight dot com on the flight |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-12-18 13:17 |
| #2 http://youtu.be/pD0RtxuGxug Launch Video Launch at 25 min |
| Posted by: John Frum 2014-12-18 07:50 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: John Frum 2014-12-18 07:41 |