The Hindu : National : Next to French Guiana, SHAR may emerge as the most favoured launch destination

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Sunday, Jul 02, 2006

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Next to French Guiana, SHAR may emerge as the most favoured launch destination

Chitra V. Ramani

11 missions consecutive successes; spaceport has capacity to launch commercially

— File Photo: S. Thanthoni

SOARING FURTHER: A view of the Second Launching Pad at Sriharikota.

Sriharikota: With the past 11 missions being consecutive successes, Sriharikota may soon emerge as the most favoured destination to launch satellites, after French Guiana.

"We are working on a scheme which will facilitate four launches — two Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV) and two Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) — a year. This is the ideal launch frequency," said M. Annamalai, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

Sriharikota, popularly known as SHAR, had more facilities than French Guiana. The Indian spaceport had the capacity to launch commercially. "We are optimising on the cost factor with each mission. This year, with the next PSLV scheduled for September/October, we will be launching a satellite (Lapan) from Indonesia."

World-class launch pad

India was the second best destination for the eastern launch. "French Guiana is five degrees from the equator and SHAR is 13 degrees, which is pretty close. This means the vehicles can take more load. As one moves away from the equator, one has to ensure that the payload in the launch vehicle is not much for, to get into the right orbit, more thrust is required. We are reliable as we have a history of 11 successes. Also, the second launch pad is world-class. It will also prove cost-effective compared to French Guiana," Dr. Annamalai said.

Recovery experiment

Along with the Indonesian satellite, the Indian Space Research Organisation is sending the Satellite Recovery Experiment (SRE).

The 650-kg recoverable satellite will be allowed to go into the orbit for 20-30 days. "It is an experiment to study the recovery aspects. The challenge is to ensure that the satellite does not burn out during re-entry," said an ISRO official.

The SRE would try to move the satellite away from the orbit and measure microgravity. "The data will be recovered when the capsule is recovered. The SRE will also test the thermal systems, deceleration system, guidance, etc," he said.

New facilities

For supporting the GSLV Mk III programme, a number of new facilities are being set up at SHAR.

Under the Rs. 2,500-crore programme, a new plant is being set up with state-of-the-art facilities to process heavier class boosters such as an S-200 booster (with 200 tonnes of solid propellant).

The other facilities include a solid stage assembly building, a technical complex, a spacecraft preparation facility for handling 4T class spacecraft, an S-200 hardware storage building, a flight hardware storage building, extension of the rail track from the existing vehicle assembly building to the proposed solid stage assembly building, earth storable and cryo propellant storage and filling systems and propellant servicing facilities.

Officials at SHAR said the range instrumentation system would be augmented with new facilities including radars, optical tracking systems, a mission control centre, real time computers and wind profilers.

"Most of the civil works under the project have been completed. We will have a trial of the booster in a few months. The project cost includes a substantial amount towards infrastructure development," said Dr. Annamalai.

Mk III programme

N. Satyanarayana, Project Director, Mk III, said the programme was slated for takeoff in 2008-09. More than 50 per cent of the works were completed at SHAR. The solid propellant plant was nearing completion. "It will be ready by the end of this year. The trials of propellant production will start soon, probably October onwards."

Industry participation

Over the past few years, SHAR had been encouraging industry participation, Dr. Satyanarayana said.

It had also floated tenders for setting up a few facilities. "ISRO will handle critical operations, while non-critical operations will be outsourced."

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