GSLV Mk III liquid stage to be tested in Feb: ISRO

[RPK]

fullstory


GSLV Mk III liquid stage to be tested in Feb: ISRO


Chennai, Feb 8 (PTI) After the successful static testing of its Solid Propellant Booster Rocket Stage, S-200, for GSLV Mk III Launch Vehicle that would put heavier satellites in space, India would test the liquid stage later this month.

"We are in the final stages of preparation for the test of the liquid stage (two liquid engines each with 110 tonnes of propellants) at the Liquid Propulsion Centre at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Radhakrishnan told reporters here today.

In a significant milestone in the country's space programme, ISRO had successfully conducted the static testing of its GSLV Mk III's Solid Propellant Booster Rocket Stage, S200, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the spaceport of Sriharikota, 80 km from here, on January 24.

 

[RPK]

ISRO will test liquid stage later this month: Radhakrishnan


Chennai: After the successful static testing of Solid Propellant Booster Rocket Stage S-200 for GSLV Mk III Launch Vehicle at the spaceport of Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would test the liquid stage (two liquid engines with 110 tonnes of propellants) at the Liquid Propulsion Centre at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu later this month.

Talking to reporters after receiving the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) at the fifth convocation of SRM University here, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said ''we are in the final stages of preparation for the tests.''

''The preparations are on at Mahendragiri. Initially we will have a short duration test for 14 seconds this month. After analysing all the performance, we will have the long duration test for about 200 seconds. This would be a week or ten days after the short duration test,'' Dr Radhakrishnan added.

''It would take about a week or ten days to analyse all the data of the short duration test. After studying its data in detail and if all the parameters are successful, then we will go for the long duration test,'' he noted.

It may be recalled that ISRO successfully conducted the static test of its largest solid booster - S200 - at SHAR range on January 24. The successful test of S200 makes it the third largest solid booster in the world, next to the RSRM solid booster of Space Shuttle and P230 solid booster of ARIANE-5.

 

[Red Dwarf]

Just curious, why are we using both Solid and liquid types at the same time(Solid boosters and liquid main engines). Why it can't be all solid or all liquids. Other countries are doing this (Eg: Space shuttle). Whats the advantage in doing so ?.

 

[jagjitnatt]

Just curious, why are we using both Solid and liquid types at the same time(Solid boosters and liquid main engines). Why it can't be all solid or all liquids. Other countries are doing this (Eg: Space shuttle). Whats the advantage in doing so ?.

solid boosters are cheap and easy to maintain. Liquid fuel needs to be stored at very very low cryogenic temps. They need to be handled very carefully. They need special storage. Also expensive many times over but its advantages are crucial at the same time. These engines can be throttled and controlled. Solid boosters cannot be throttled.

Liquid can be reused very easily. just fill in and they are ready.

 

[Red Dwarf]

solid boosters are cheap and easy to maintain. Liquid fuel needs to be stored at very very low cryogenic temps. They need to be handled very carefully. They need special storage. Also expensive many times over but its advantages are crucial at the same time. These engines can be throttled and controlled. Solid boosters cannot be throttled.

Liquid can be reused very easily. just fill in and they are ready.

I agreed that solid boosters are cheap and easy to maintain but at the same time we are not using cryogenic liquids for the first stage. Fuel for 1st stage Vikas L-110 is UDMH/N2O4.

Also a liquid engine are suitable for Space shuttles since they need to be reusable. But thats not the case with our engine. It is not going to be utilized again. So why are we using them in anyway ?..

Also the solid fuels will provide more liftoff thrust than the corresponding liquid ones but with the added disadvantage of extra weight.