Chennai: Just months after achieving the milestone of a successful mission to Mars, India is set to push another frontier in space, by launching its heaviest and upgraded rocket the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-Mark III) – Dec 18, space agency ISRO said on Friday.
The crew module will blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, on board the GSLV-Mark III. According to a tweet by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the 630-tonne rocket will be powered by liquid and solid fuel engines while the cryogenic stage/engine will be a passive one.
The rocket will go up to 126 km and the crew capsule will then detach and fall into the Bay of Bengal, 20 minutes after blast-off. The crew module will be launched as a payload on the GSLV-Mark III, which will blast off for the first time. The flight would be a sub-orbital test flight, and will see the first two stages being fired. The third stage, which is cryogenic, is still under development and would not be tested. However, the launch vehicle would carry a dummy cryogenic stage.
The module will splash down 600 km from Port Blair and 1,600 km from the space centre. The capsule will be recovered by an Indian Coast Guard or Indian Navy ship.
The crew module, looking like a giant-size cup cake – black on top and brown at the bottom – weighs around four tonnes. The experimental mission will cost Rs 155 crore.