Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Oct 6, 2012 Even as India hails its PSLV successes, slipups in its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle [GSLV], have delayed the launch of the Indian Navy satellite GSAT-7 which will now be launched using an Ariane-5 rocket from the Kourou island in French Guiana.  The launch is  tentatively scheduled for the end of this year, or the first month of 2013, Aerospace Diary learns. GSAT-7/INSAT-4F is proposed as a multi-band communication satellite carrying payloads in UHF, S-band, C-band and Ku-band.  On the aerospace command, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne  said:"We need to look at three areas - aerospace, cyber and cooperation.” On the space cell managed by the military, DRDO and ISRO, he noted: “it needs bigger infrastructure…” Delayed by over a year, GSAT-7A will be launched after GSAT-7is launched. “It will be an air force satellite with some bandwidth for the navy,” said Browne. F ormer ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair had sugge...

Neelam Mathews May 5, 2011 Time: 9:36 PM IST Arianespace’s third Ariane 5 mission of 2011 has entered the final phase in French Guiana following the heavy-lift launcher’s transfer for the integration of its ST-2 and GSAT-8 dual-passenger payload. The launch is scheduled for May 19. While ISRO’s 15 consecutive successes with its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ( PSLV), have allowed India to launch Remote Sensing satellites into sun synchronous orbits, the persistent unreliability of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is raising concerns of delays to the planned second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, and the future three-stage 629 ton launch vehicle GSLV -Mk III, will be delayed. GSAT-8 uses Indian Space Research Organization’s   I-3K satellite bus with a liftoff mass of 3,100 kg.  Its payload of 24 transponders will augment India’s Ku-band relay capabilities, while the two-channel GAGAN (GPS and GEO augmented navigation) system will support India’...

Aerospace Daily PROGRAMS Jan 3, 2011 NEW DELHI — The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) says the Dec. 25 failure of a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) carrying the GSAT-5P satellite was caused by the untimely and inadvertent snapping of a group of 10 connectors located at the bottom portion of the rocket’s Russian-made cryogenic upper stage. Some of these connectors carry command signals from the onboard computer — located in the equipment bay near the top of the vehicle — to the control electronics of the four L40 strap-ons of the first stage. The connectors are intended to separate at 292 sec. after liftoff. The premature termination of the connectors interrupted commands to the first-stage control electronics, leading to loss of control and breakup of the vehicle, according to ISRO. The exact cause of the connector malfunction remains to be determined. The 2,130-kg. (4,700-lb.) GSAT-5P was to replace the INSAT-2E satellite, launched in 1999. Carrying...

News AWIN First Dec 25 , 2010 Neelam Mathews New Delhi The Indian Space Research Organization suffered its second consecutive failure of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) this year as the rocket developed a technical fault after liftoff and plunged into the Bay of Bengal. The communication satellite GSAT-5P, weighing 2,130 kg, with 24 C-band transponders and 12 extended C-band transponders was to replace the INSAT-2E satellite, put in orbit in 1999. It was also the heaviest satellite launched by an Indian launch vehicle. The rocket was launched from India’s only spaceport at Sriharikota from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, 100 km from Chennai. ISRO was using a Russian cryogenic engine which developed a leak and as a result the launch was postponed from Dec. 20 to 25. “Whether it is strap-ons or transition between first and second stage, one doesn’t know,” a space scientist says. “The performance o...