The GSLV mission is important for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), because it has to prove its capability, as the last three launch attempts had failed. Since its first experimental flight in 2001, there have been four failures in seven launches of the GSLV.
Although the first mission underperformed, the launches in 2003 and 2004 were successful. Of the seven missions, Russian-made engines were used six times.
An indigenious cryogenic engine was first used in April 2010. After the attempt failed, the vehicle was redesigned. But this time too it did not succeeed. Again, in August 2013, the launch was called off at the last minute after Isro officials found a leak in the hydrazine fuel system on the rocket’s second stage.
So, Isro wants “to break the jinx that doomed Isro’s capability to handle GSLV”.
The GSLV is not only key for Isro’s future launches, including GSAT-6, 6A and 7A, the two remote sensing satellites GISATs, and the GSAT 9 and then Chandrayaan-2, but also for India to emerge as a global hub for satellite launches.
According to reports, by 2020, about 927 satellites are expected to be launched and about 405 are going to be communication satellites.
Between May 1999 and February 2013, Isro launched 35 satellites for other countries, including Germany, Korea, Italy, Japan, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, France, Denmark and the UK and others.
But all these satellites were launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which can launch satellites only weighing just over a tonne. On the other hand, India, which has become a cost-effective port for lightweight satellites, had to depend on foreign facilities for sending heavier payloads.
The main challenge in GSLV is at the cryogenic stage. With liquefied oxygen and hydrogen as fuel, the cryogenic engine offers a much higher payload-carrying capacity than the liquid and solid stages do, and can ferry these heavier payloads across the gravity barrier.
If the Sunday launch succeeds, India will be the sixth nation to possess this cutting edge technology after the United States, Russia, France, Japan and China. It will once again send a message to the global scientist community that India is second to none in engineering.
