Ram M Sundaram By

CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned to put into operation the third rocket installation facility at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, from 2017.

“Primarily aimed at increasing the launch frequency, this new facility would allow us to carry out more checks, increase the mobility of launch platforms and integrate satellites easily”, said, S V Seshagiri Rao, associate director at ISRO.

Speaking to Express on the sidelines of a lecture at Anna University, he said, “This third facility, called as Second Vehicle Assembly Building (SVAB) would act as an additional integration facility for the second launch pad at Sriharikota and help increase the number of satellite launches from the Centre.” He also said that for the first launch pad, a facility is integrated within the pad and for the second one, rocket is integrated on a moving platform in a building. This third facility would be based on integrating both these concepts.

The 90-metre high facility would have seven pairs of horizontal sliding doors in the front, two in the rear, six repositionable floors, a nozzle assembly tower and an overhead traversing crane.

Though approval for constructing this infrastructure at an estimated cost of `120 crores was made in 2013, the work began last year.

IRNSS launches by March

Chennai: The remaining two navigation satellites in the IRNSS series this March. “While IRNSS 1F would be launched on March 10, the final one (IRNSS IG) in the seven satellite series would be launched on March 31 from Sriharikota”, said Rao, former project director of Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR), ISRO. The seven-satellite constellation that would form India’s own indigenous system would provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary. While the Standard Positioning System (SPS) would be provided to all the users, Restricted Service (RS), an encrypted service, is for authorised users.The remaining two navigation satellites in the IRNSS series this March. “While IRNSS 1F would be launched on March 10, the final one (IRNSS IG) in the seven satellite series would be launched on March 31 from Sriharikota”, said Rao, former project director of Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR), ISRO. The seven-satellite constellation that would form India’s own indigenous system would provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary. While the Standard Positioning System (SPS) would be provided to all the users, Restricted Service (RS), an encrypted service, is for authorised users.