It was
classified as an experimental flight, meaning thereby that the
scientists expected to find variations, missed targets,under
performance or even failures in it. Yet they had full confidence in
themselves and in the gleaming rocket that stood tall at 43.43 meters
and weighed 630580 Kg, because the launch came live on national TV.
ISRO
or Indian Space Research Organization sent a tweet around 9.15 AM
that the launch is being telecast live. After reading the tweet, I
rushed to the TV room and switched on the national new channel to see
a huge white rocket with two additional booster rockets attached to
its sides. The boosters themselves could have been easily classified
as full fledged rockets with their length of 25.35 meters and 4.0
meter diameter. These boosters would burn for 130 seconds and produce
a peak thrust of about 5,150 KiloNewtons each. The central rocket
being called as core stage, also with similar dimensions but two
engines that would produce a thrust of 1400 KiloNewtons. This latest
rocket, which can lift off payloads up to 4 tonnes, is being called
by ISRO as GSLV Mk III.
When
my TV came live, the count was going on at lift off minus 5 minutes.
Next five minutes turned out to be very very long, as everyone in the
launch center kept looking at the giant screens hung on the wall. The
scientist in charge of the launch also kept looking at monitors in
front of them as announcements kept coming on PA system about the
flight status.
The
long agonizing wait was finally over as count went on as 6-5-4-3-2
and at that instant orange flames shot out from both the boosters and
the rocket started gliding straight up as if by magic. Soon after,
the rocket, now emitting white smoke, climbed up so high that only a
belt of smoke was all that could be seen. Now everyone was back to
the huge telemetry screens, which showed the expected path and the
velocity the rocket was supposed to take and the actual position and
value that was conveyed by the rocket and various tracking stations.
I felt
absolutely fascinated, as the expected path and actual path coincided
accurately meaning thereby that the rocket just did what was expected
of it. Announcements kept coming about core engine being ignited,
booster engines being jettisoned and so on and then exactly 5.4
minutes after liftoff at 9.30 AM from the second launch pad of Satish
Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the payload module, weighing over
three tonnes, separated from the rocket at an altitude of 126 km and
re-entered Earth’s atmosphere (about 80 km from sea level). As far
as the giant GSLV Mk III rocket was concerned, the flight was 100 %
successful as the main aim of this flight was to test the atmospheric
flight stability of the rocket with around four tonnes of payload.
The
actual payload for this experimental flight was a dummy cryogenic
engine attached to a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment
CARE. After its release by the rocket the CARE module descended in a
ballistic mode and splashed down into the Bay of Bengal, some 180 km
from Indira Point, the southern tip of the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. The CARE module shaped like a 2.7-meter tall cup cake and
weighing over three tonnes, had a diameter of 3.1 meters. It featured
aluminum alloy internal structure with composite panels and ablative
thermal protection systems, It was to safely drop down into the sea
by specially-made parachutes. The experiment also witnessed the
largest parachute in action ever made in India. The main parachute,
which helped the crew module touch the waters at around 7
meters/second speed, was 31 meters in diameter. During the flight
downwards, attracted by gravity, it withstood a temperature of around
1,600°C because of the resistance produced by the atmosphere of the
earth. Eventually, the module is going to carry up to two to three
astronauts. The aim of this experimental module mission was to
understand the re-entry characteristics and according to ISRO, even
this experiment has concluded as per expectations.
Because the launch was super smooth, the attention of everyone was now drawn to actual recovery of the crew module from sea. The crew module CARE is not only fitted with its beacon and GPS tracker but also with a system that eludes a chemical that turns the sea water at the point of impact a fluorescent green. This would enable the overflying Dornier aircraft to spot it even if its beacon and GPS tracker fail. However nothing of the sort happened and CARE gave loud and clear signals. The Indian coast guard vessel “Samudra Paheradar” waiting nearby spotted the crew module and immediately made a deft approach. A 17-member team from ISRO on board the vessel, recovered CARE at 4.30 PM. There was extremely satisfying news that the module looked intact, which meant that it had withstood the high friction and temperature during the re-entry into the atmosphere.
The
module should reach the Chennai port by December 21st
2014, from where it would be shifted to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala for further study.
The
experimental flight of GSLV Mk III is a major step towards building
a space delivery system that can deliver payloads up to 4 tonnes (
what most of India's communication satellites weigh today and have to
be launched by using European space agency rockets.)
20th
December 2014
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