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India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 to wait
Thursday April 26, 2012 03:24:06 PM,
IANS
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Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): India's second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2, slated for
2014, will have to wait till the country's space agency flies two
of its heavy rocket - Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)
- successfully, a top official said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after the successful launch of indigenously
built Radar Imaging Satellite I (Risat-1) from here, Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan said: "We
plan to fly two GSLV rockets at an interval of six months before
the Chandrayaan-2 mission."
India's first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, was launched
in 2008. The country has planned its second moon mission along
with Russia.
The one major concern for ISRO now is getting ready the GSLV
rocket which failed successively in 2010, thereby setting back
many of the space agency's plans.
According to Radhakrishnan, the space agency is in the process of
getting its cryogenic engine ready to power the GSLV.
The one GSLV rocket fitted with an ISRO made cryogenic engine
failed in 2010 due to the failure of an engine component. He said
two major ground tests of the cryogenic engine are being done.
"We are planning a GSLV launch with Indian cryogenic engine during
September/October 2012," Radhakrishnan remarked.
He said the space agency will revert to a smaller heat shield (3.4
metre) for the rocket as against the four-metre heat shield fitted
in the GSLV rocket that failed in 2010.
The Russians had earlier pointed out that the bigger heat shield
was the probable reason for the GSLV's instability during its
flight in December 2010.
Speaking about the status of GSLV Mark III, the upgraded variant
of GSLV, Radhakrishnan said the rocket would have high power
cryogenic engine. The engine's various subsystems also have to be
tested, which would take a couple of years.
He said an experimental flight of GSLV Mark III without the
cryogenic engine is planned during 2012-13 to test the rocket's
other parameters.
Refuting the charge that ISRO was not fully utilizing the funds
allocated to it, Radhakrishnan said the agency had spent Rs.20,000
crore during the Eleventh Plan period as against Rs.13,000 crore
spent during the previous plan period.
But he agreed that ISRO had not utilized the amount it got last
fiscal in full.
"A large portion the money remaining unspent was drawn for the
purchase of around six to eight cryogenic engines from Russia
after failure of the indigenously built cryogenic engine during a
flight," Radhakrishnan said.
On cost of Risat-1 mission, he said the rocket (Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle) and the satellite cost Rs.110 crore and Rs.378
crore respectively.
He said Indian users can now use Risat-1's images instead of
sourcing these from Canada.
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