New Delhi: India will send two astronauts into space using an indigenous rocket and an announcement for this is likely to be made within a couple of months, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said on Tuesday.
In an interview to a private channel, ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said that in the next few weeks, the government may announce approval of India's most expensive scientific programme - that of putting two Indian astronauts in space.
With this, India is set to join the select club of the US, Russia and china that have human space flight capabilities. The announcement has come two days before ISRO's test for an indigenous Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket.
Radhakrishnan told NDTV that India has technical capabilities for sending astronauts into the space. He said that the government approval for this Rs. 124 billion venture may come in a couple of months.
On being asked if it will be announced in the Prime Minister's Independence Day speech, the ISRO chief confirmed that "the approval and announcement could happen even before that."
Radhakrishnan says ISRO is ready to launch Indian astronauts by 2017. "As of now what we have is a pre-project study," he said, adding that the astronaut programme will be implemented in phases.
The first phase is to test the unmanned crew module and a service module in space four years from now. After that the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will be used to launch the Indian astronauts.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Countdown begins for rocket launch with Indian cryo-engine
Bangalore:The countdown to launch a heavy rocket with an Indian cryogenic engine to inject an advanced communication satellite in the geo-synchronous orbit began on Wednesday at the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhrapradesh, a space agency official said.
"The countdown began at 11.27 a.m. at our Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. All preparations for launching the geo-synchornous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-D3) carrying the geo-stationary experimental satellite (GSAT-4) on Thursday at 16.27 IST are progressing satisfactorily," ISRO Director S. Satish told the sources.
The spaceport is located on a small island off the Bay of Bengal, about 80 km north-east of Chennai.
The preparations during the 29-hour countdown includes filling up the second stage and four strap-ons of the 416-tonne rocket with about 200 tonnes of liquid propellants.
"In the run up to lift-off, the cryogenic upper stage will also be filled with propellants. Certain mandatory checks and charging of batteries on the 50-meter tall rocket and the 2.2-tonne satellite onboard will be carried during the countdown," Satish said.
Readiness of the ground stations at Sriharikota, Biak in Indonesia and the master control facility at Hasan in Karnataka, about 180 km from here, will also be tested by the space scientists and engineers simultaneously.
"The countdown began at 11.27 a.m. at our Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. All preparations for launching the geo-synchornous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-D3) carrying the geo-stationary experimental satellite (GSAT-4) on Thursday at 16.27 IST are progressing satisfactorily," ISRO Director S. Satish told the sources.
The spaceport is located on a small island off the Bay of Bengal, about 80 km north-east of Chennai.
The preparations during the 29-hour countdown includes filling up the second stage and four strap-ons of the 416-tonne rocket with about 200 tonnes of liquid propellants.
"In the run up to lift-off, the cryogenic upper stage will also be filled with propellants. Certain mandatory checks and charging of batteries on the 50-meter tall rocket and the 2.2-tonne satellite onboard will be carried during the countdown," Satish said.
Readiness of the ground stations at Sriharikota, Biak in Indonesia and the master control facility at Hasan in Karnataka, about 180 km from here, will also be tested by the space scientists and engineers simultaneously.
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