ISRO Satellite GSAT-14 2013

ISRO Satellite GSAT-14 2013 , Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle

India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5) from Sriharikota at 4.50 p.m. on Monday.

The GSLV-D5 will put the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) advanced communication satellite called GSAT-14 in orbit. 

The vehicle is on the launch pad and it has been married with the satellite weighing 1,982 kg. The rocket weighs 414 tonnes and is 49 metres tall.

Indigenous cryogenic engine

The mission’s importance lies in the three-stage GSLV-D5 using an indigenous cryogenic engine as the third upper stage. This is the second time that a GSLV is using an indigenous cryogenic engine developed by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) situated at Mahendragiri, near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu. 

The first flight to use an India-made cryogenic stage failed in April 2010. This is the eighth GSLV flight. Of the earlier seven GSLV missions, six used cryogenic engines from Russia.

Engine redesigned

For this mission, ISRO has re-designed the cryogenic engine’s Fuel Booster Turbo-Pump; subjected the engine to a high altitude test, simulating the vacuum there; re-designed the way the connectors are mounted in the cryogenic stage; and done wind-tunnel tests on the GSLV model.

The GSAT-14 will be used for telecasting and telecommunication purposes. Its mission life is 12 years.