S V Krishna Chaitanya By

Express News Service

SRIHARIKOTA:The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set for another historic mission on Friday that will highlight India’s capability of launching a 4-ton spacecraft in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The GTO is an intermediate stage of satellite placement in a position directly above the point of launch, and requires fine adjustments with thrusters to get placed on the geostationery orbit.

There will be a full duration flight test of cryogenic upper stage for GSLV MkIII for 640 seconds on Friday, ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) director, P V Venkitakrishnan, told Express on the sidelines of the successful launch of PSLV C-37.

The full stage demonstration at sea level is scheduled to be held at IPRC, Mahendragiri. “If we succeed in our mission for 640 seconds, it will be an important milestone and ISRO can launch GSLV MkIII by April,” Venkitakrishnan said.

He said the agency had successfully ground tested its indigenously developed cryogenic engine (C25) at a High Altitude Test (HAT) facility on January 25, 2017 and integrated it with the flight stage.

“The performance of the engine at high altitude during the test was satisfactory and Friday’s test would be the last in the series before going for an actual rocket launch,” he said and added, “Already, earth-storable liquid core stage (L110) and solid strap-on-motors (S200) have been integrated and reached Sriharikota. C25 engine activity and integration is progressing in IPRC and should be ready for dispatch in couple of weeks.”