SRIHARIKOTA: Indian Space Research Organisation ( Isro ) launched GSLV Mark III carrying an unmanned crew module on Monday morning. The GSLV Mark III lifted off from the second launch pad of the space centre here at 9.30am.

The rocket soared from the launch pad after a 24-hour countdown that began on Wednesday morning. The crew module is expected to separate from the rocket at an altitude of 126 km and then re-enter into the earth’s atmosphere at 80 km, then follow an uncontrolled trajectory into the Bay of Bengal about 180 km off the Andaman Nicobar Islands.

The GSLV’s integral cryogenic engine phase is in passive state and the suborbital test flight has been conducted mainly to test the flight validation of the launch vehicle and its new telemetric systems apart from the atmospheric reentry pattern and thermal resistance of the module during the Crew Module Atmosphereic Re-entry Experiment (CARE)

The flight will test the parachute deployment system of the crew module which has to work in a cluster formation to slow down the module and reduce atmospheric friction and thermal corrosion during its free fall back to the surface.

The GSLV Mark III is being projected as Isro's most advanced launch vehicle capable of injecting heavier satellites like GSAT 19e. The 630.5-tonne rocket has two active solid and liquid propulsion stages, S 200 and L110 respectively, in addition to its cryogenic engine C 25 X which in a passive state.

