Skip to main content

GSLV Mark III to open up 4-ton satellite launch market for India’ (hindu)

The heavy-lift GSLV Mark III rocket, slated to be launched by space agency ISRO tomorrow, would open up opportunities for India to launch 4-ton class of satellites of foreign countries, according to a senior space scientist.

Tomorrow’s launch of the first developmental flight of the rocket is a “great milestone” as ISRO is almost doubling the capacity to launch satellite from 2.2-2.3 tons to 3.5-4 tons, former ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said.

“Today if India has to launch communication satellites beyond 2.3 tons, we have to go abroad (to launch them). We (will) have self-reliance in launching communication satellites (once GSLV Mk III becomes operational), and also we will be able to attract foreign customers,” he said.

“It’s rather a simpler vehicle, and a vehicle with better payload fraction. And it’s going to be future workhorse vehicle (of ISRO),” he said.

Mr. Radhakrishnan was closely associated with the GSLV Mk III programme, approved in 2000, as director of VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) and then chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He is now an adviser to ISRO.

“We are getting into the next level of capacity. PSLV is a stable line at the moment. GSLV is better than that. Here we are getting into a vehicle which is going to be more cost-effective.

“And there is a lot of opportunity to launch communication satellites of India as well those of other countries because 4-ton is a good range for communication satellites,” he told PTI in a telephonic interview.

“It should open up (international market for ISRO). After a couple of developmental flights to establish, I am sure there will be opportunities for launching even foreign communication satellites,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

GSLV Mk III can launch normal communication satellites that are in the market.

“If you look at the global communication satellite scenario, it has gone up to 6 to 6.5 tons at the moment...that’s the high power satellite but much of the volume is used for...and mass also for propellants for keeping long life of satellite.”

“If the satellites switch over to electric propulsion from chemical propulsion, the mass could be kept at 4-ton level. From that scenario, GSLV has a long operational life and there are opportunities for launching communication satellites of India and other countries,” he said.

“Comparable vehicle (for GSLV Mk III) today is Ariane-6 which is getting developed in Europe. That’s for about 6.5 tons. Once chemical propulsion of the satellites is replaced by the electric propulsion for which work is going on, then they will also come down in mass.

“GSLV Mk III will be a candidate for them (foreign customers) to consider. Mass is an issue for communication satellites. People are trying to bring in electric propulsion,” the eminent scientist said.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NGT terminates chairmen of pollution control boards in 10 states (downtoearth,)

Cracking the whip on 10 State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) for ad-hoc appointments, the National Green Tribunal has ordered the termination of Chairpersons of these regulatory authorities. The concerned states are Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Manipur. The order was given last week by the principal bench of the NGT, chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar. The recent order of June 8, 2017, comes as a follow-up to an NGT judgment given in August 2016. In that judgment, the NGT had issued directions on appointments of Chairmen and Member Secretaries of the SPCBs, emphasising on crucial roles they have in pollution control and abatement. It then specified required qualifications as well as tenure of the authorities. States were required to act on the orders within three months and frame Rules for appointment [See Box: Highlights of the NGT judgment of 2016 on criteria for SPCB chairperson appointment]. Having ...

High dose of Vitamin C and B3 can kill colon cancer cells: study (downtoearth)

In a first, a team of researchers has found that high doses of Vitamin C and niacin or Vitamin B3 can kill cancer stem cells. A study published in Cell Biology International showed the opposing effects of low and high dose of vitamin C and vitamin B3 on colon cancer stem cells. Led by Bipasha Bose and Sudheer Shenoy, the team found that while low doses (5-25 micromolar) of Vitamin C and B3 proliferate colon cancer stem cells, high doses (100 to 1,000 micromolar) killed cancer stem cells. Such high doses of vitamins can only be achieved through intravenous injections in colon cancer patients. The third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, colon cancer can be prevented by an intake of dietary fibre and lifestyle changes. While the next step of the researchers is to delineate the mechanisms involved in such opposing effects, they also hope to establish a therapeutic dose of Vitamin C and B3 for colon cancer stem cell therapy. “If the therapeutic dose gets validated under in vivo...

What's ailing Namami Gange programme?(DTE)

Winters are extremely hectic for Sushma Patel, a vegetable grower in Uttar Pradesh’s Chunar town. Her farm is in the fertile plains of Ganga where people grow three crops a year. But this is the only season when she can grow vegetables. And before that, she needs to manually dig out shreds of plastic and wrappers from her one-hectare (ha) farm. “This is all because of the nullah,” she says, pointing at an open drain that runs through her field, carrying sewage from the neighbourhood to the Ganga. “Every monsoon, the drain overflows and inundates the field with a thick, black sludge and plastic debris. We cannot even go near the field as the stench of sewage fills the air,” she says. But Patel has no one to complain to as this is the way of life for most people in this ancient town. About 70 per cent of the people in Chunar depend on toilets that have on-site sanitation, such as septic tanks and pits. In the absence of a proper disposal or management system, people simply dump the faec...