ISRO’s recent launches: PSLV and GSLV
The month of February has witnessed several developments in India’s space sector. On 22nd February, 2017 India declared that it is about to launch its MkII GSLV for launching satellites. This satellite is expected to have a payload capacity of 4000 kgs, almost double the current GSLV F05. On 15th February, another significant event happened when 104 satellites were launched in one go by a PSLV. This move became so significant after India made another record by launching these satellites on a PSLV. Both the developments are equally significant, but one has a more significance in current scenario than the other. India has, no doubt developed an incredible lot PSLV launchers. But this laudable achievement also exposes certain limitations of the Indian space industry which poses a hurdle for the nation to become a worthy competitor in the $300 billion space industry, competing with countries like China and France. How can this competitive level be achieved? The answer is GSLV.
Indian space industry is highly in need of a GSLV to launch its satellites. At this juncture, one needs to understand the needs and features of GSLV and also identify the hurdles that prevented India from acquiring this technology.
What is a GSLV? How is it different from PSLV?
GSLV or the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle is a three stage satellite launcher. The three stages comprise of one solid rocket launch stage, one earth storable liquid stage and one cryogenic stage. It is almost 49 metres long with a huge satellite carrying capacity.
Some of the main differences between PSLV and GSLV are as follows:
- Types of satellites– While PSLV is designed mainly to deliver the earth observation or remote- sensing satellites, GSLV is designed to deliver the communication satellites to a higher elliptical known as the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
- Weight of satellites-PSLV can carry satellites upto a total weight of 2000 kg into space. GSLV can carry satellites of a greater weight. It can carry upto 5000 kgs of satellites.
- Distance of reach-While the PSLV can reach only upto an altitude of 600-900 km, GSLV has a reach upto 36,000 kms.
India’s GSLV Launch Vehicles-Successes and Failures
The idea of India developing GSLV Launch Vehicles is not new. The experimental studies to determine the feasibility of India’s cryogenic propulsion system had started in the 1980s itself. It had signed a deal with a Russian company to acquire their GSLV. But due to pressure from US the said contract could not be enforced and after that India has failed miserably in developing GSLVs for 20 years. The failures took place twice in 2010 and 2013. India has an achievement of twice launching home-built cryogenic engine. The two instances are:
- GSLV-D5: The GSLV D5 was launched in January 2014 by ISRO. It was for the first time that India made the world realize of its capacity to launch heavy satellites using indigeneous cryogenic engines. It had put a 1982 kg communication satellite in the orbit. This took place only after 17 minutes of flight. It made India join the elite league of US, Russia, France, Japan and China who are masters in developing cryogenic machines.
- GSLV F05: This was another achievement of India that helped it to carry the INSAT-3DR satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit around the earth. It was for the first time that an Indian cryogenic engine was used in an operational flight. An operational flight means ISRO will not be testing any components, flight parameters or flight routes. The launch will solely be about the mission: delivering the payload. This MkII could lift a payload of upto 2500 kg to the GTO. This gave a boost up to come with an MkIII launcher with a higher payload also.
Need for GSLV in India
The current trend indicates that India is highly in need of more numbers of GSLV satellite launchers. The reason is as follows:
- Costly space launch-Due to a shortage of sufficient number of GSLV Launchers, India is required to hire these from the foreign space firms for launching its heavy satellites. This makes space launching a costly affair.
- Not competitive-Although India made history by launching 104 satellites in one go, it could not however reach at a very competitive level. ISRO still lags behind big space firms like Europe’s Ariane or Russia’s Proton rockets.
- Strategic significance-Developing GSLV in India has a strategic significance also. By developing its own GSLV India does not have to face the ‘whims and uncertainties’ of the global space launch market. There are also shifts taking place in political and geo-strategic priorities. For example, a technology denial regime is developing in the US through trade sanctions and technology embargo. This may prove a hurdle to India not only economically but strategically also.
Conclusion
All the above observations indicate that India is capable of acquiring a fair share in the space launcher market through this GSLV MkIII which it plans to launch soon. It is the need of the hour keeping the strategic situations in the world in mind. Moreover, it will be a good proof of India’s capability to launch heavy satellites and increase its global competitiveness. The ISRO has been working very hard and these are its fruits of labour that after so many years of struggle it is on the verge of developing two GSLVs within a year.
