India’s first experimental flight GSLV Mark III took off
successfully from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre,
in Sriharikota on Thursday. Also known as LVM3/CARE, this suborbital
experimental mission was intended to test the vehicle performance during
the critical atmospheric phase of its flight and this carried passive
(non functional) cryogenic upper stage.
"Everything went off as expected. This new launch vehicle performed very
well and is a great success. We had an unmanned crew module to
understand re-entry characteristics. That also went off successfully and
it has touched down in the Bay of Bengal," said ISRO’s chief K.
Radhakrishnan.
In exactly about five and half minutes after taking off, the vehicle
carried its payload — the 3775 kg crew module Atmospheric Re-entry
experiment (CARE) — to the intended height of 126 km.
Two massive S-200 solid strap-on boosters, each carrying 207 tonnes of
solid propellants, ignited at the vehicle lift off and after functioning
normally, separated 153.5 seconds later. L110 liquid stage ignited 120
seconds after lift off, while S200s were still functioning for the next
204.6 seconds.
CARE separated from the passive C25 cryogenic upper stage of GSLV Mark
III 330.8 seconds after lift off and began its guided descent for
atmospheric re-entry. The CARE module landed over Andaman Sea about
1,600 km from Sriharikota, this was the finishing line.
Following this the CARE separated from the upper stage of GSLV Mark III
and re-entered the atmosphere and safely landed over Bay of Bengal with
the help of its parachutes about 20 minutes 43 second after lift off.
"As it made it's way back into our atmosphere the parachutes that
brought it down really worked well and we are pleased with the
performance. This is a step towards manned space flight as the module
that has been designed to carry astronauts has touched down safely. The
coast guard ships that were 100 km away from the touchdown point lost
sight of it briefly, but the module continued to communicate it's
location to us," said Unnikrishnan Nair, the man behind the Manned Space
Flight mission.
With today’s successful launch, the vehicle has moved a step closer to
its first development flight with the functional C25 cryogenic stage.
“The payload capabilities that we can now handle have been significantly
enhanced. After the success of the dummy stage cry engine tested in
this rocket, we will have greater confidence to put the cryogenic engine
in it within 2 years," said S. Somanath, Mission Director of LVM-3.