2. INTRODUCTION The GSLV-III or Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle Mark III is a launch vehicle under development by the
Indian Space Research Organisation. It is intended to launch
satellites into geostationary orbit and as a launcher for an Indian
crew vehicle. The GSLV MK-3 will feature an Indian cryogenic third
stage and a higher payload capacity than the current GSLV.
3. HISTORY Development for the GSLV Mk III began in the early
2000s, with the first launch planned for 2009-2010. Several factors
have delayed the program, including the 15 April 2010 failure of
the ISRO-developed cryogenic upper stage on the GSLV Mk II. A
suborbital flight test of the GSLV Mk3 launcher, without its
cryogenic third stage, is planned by end of 2014, and will be used
to test a crew module on a suborbital trajectory. The first orbital
flight is planned to take place in 2016. The first flight with a
crew on board would take place after 2020.
4. DESCRIPTION Stage 1 - Solid boosters The GSLV-III will use
two S-200 solid motors, also designated Large Solid Boosters (LSB).
Each booster will have a diameter of 3.2 metres, a length of 25
metres, and will contain 200 tonnes of propellant. Stage 2 - Liquid
motor The core stage, designated L-110, will be a 4-meter diameter
liquid- fueled stage containing 110 tonnes of propellant. It will
be the first Indian liquid engine cluster design, and will use two
improved Vikas engines, each producing about 700 kilonewtons (70
tf) of thrust.
5. S-200 MOTOR The S-200 motors (200 ton propellant, 25m) are
the third largest solid propellant boosters in the world - after
the US Space Shuttles booster (440 ton, 37.8m) and Europes Ariane
(240 ton, 31.6m) They are being manufactured in a largely automated
plant in Shreeharikota built by Indian engineers and industry.
Measured in terms of diameter, the S-200 ranks second in the world
with 3.2m, with the while Space Shuttle and Ariane measuring 3.6 m
and 3.05 m respectively. The S-200 motors have a fuel burn time of
103 secs, against Ariane's 130 sec and Space Shuttle booster's 123
sec. The closely matched thrust levels required from the two S-200
motors is achieved by carefully controlling both the quality of the
raw materials used and their subsequent processing. The S200s large
nozzle has been equipped with a flex seal, allowing the nozzle to
swivel to correct rocket orientation.
6. CREW MODULE (CM) FLIGHT DETAILS DURING EXPERIMENTAL LAUNCH
On December 18, 2014 ISRO will conduct an experimental launch of
the GSLV Mk-3 launcher sans its C25 Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS).
The experimental flight, officially dubbed as LVM3-X, would be used
to test the Crew Module (CM) that ISRO has developed under the
ongoing technology development phase of India's Human Spaceflight
Program (HSP). The sequence of events during the unmanned Crew
Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) would be as follows.
LVM3-X would climb to an altitude of 125 km and achieve a velocity
of 5.3 kps. The CM will then separate from the launcher and
re-enter the earth's atmosphere. Six liquid-propellant thrusters on
the CM will correct any perturbations caused by the separation and
steer the spacecraft along the planned atmospheric re-entry flight
path. A spacecraft in Earth orbit re-enters the Earth's atmosphere
at a velocity of over 28,000-kph. During CARE the CM will re-enter
the atmosphere at a much slower 19,000 kph.
7. CONTD. During atmospheric descent the heat shield of the CM
will experience temperatures of around 1,000 deg C. (Returning from
orbit, because of higher speeds, temperatures could touch 1,600 deg
C.) At an altitude of about 15 km, with the CM is travelling at 839
km per hour, a 2.5-m diameter pilot parachute will deploy to yank
out a 6.5-m drogue parachute and slow the spacecraft to 180-kph. At
an altitude of 5-km, three main parachutes would deploy, each a
humongous 31- m in diameter. The CM is expected to splash down in
the Bay of Bengal near the Andaman archipelago and will be
recovered by Indian Coast Guard and ISRO personnel. The steeper
descent during re-entry, as also lower atmospheric re-entry speed,
are dictated by the need to keep the splashdown point of the CM
within the Bay of Bengal following a sub-orbital trajectory. ISRO
has successfully conducted a drop test of the full scale CM to
assess its