Showing posts with label CARE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CARE. Show all posts

22 December 2014

Why GSLV MK-III success matters?


India's Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) flew to an altitude of 78 miles (126 km). CARE then separated from the upper stage of the GSLV Mk-III rocket, and landed over Bay of Bengal on Dec. 18, 2014

Significance of GSLV MK-III

  • It is the most capable rocket ever developed by India. It can carry up to 10 metric tons, or about 22,000 pounds, of cargo into low Earth orbit and up to 4 metric tons or about 8,800 pounds into geostationary transfer orbit once it is operational.
  • Validated complex atmospheric ascent regime, especially aerodynamic and control features that cannot be conclusively tested on ground.
  • Validated new design features which includes both Hardware and Software implementation
  • Performance validation of S200 solid boosters which generate 1.1 million pounds of thrust, making them the second-most powerful solid-fueled rocket motors currently in service after the strap-on rockets used by Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher.
  • Successfully tested 2 liquid-fueled L110 clustered Vikas engines using hydrazine as fuel which ignited when the rocket is already in the air, firing for more than three minutes and ramping up to peak power of 360,000 pounds of thrust. This is the first time ISRO has tested a clustered engine configuration.
  • The launch marked the successful testing of the atmospheric re-entry of a crew module, which separated from the rocket 325 seconds after lift-off at an altitude of 126 km, and descended in ballistic mode, re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere (about 80 km above sea level) and splashing down into the Bay of Bengal.
  • 1,600 degrees Celsius is the temperature that the CARE module withstood at re-entry into atmosphere, advanced heat shield technology was employed, further analysis of the data will reveal the actual temperature signature prevalent during re-entry phase.
  • Re-entry capability is key to sending a human into space. This is a complicated and dangerous manoeuvre; it is while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere that the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed in 2003, killing seven astronauts, including Indian American Kalpana Chawla.
  • Finally, the global space industry is worth more than $ 300 billion, apart from the regular PSLV business and India has the potential to tap a substantial portion of this large pie once the GSLV matures as a reliable & credible launch platform.