HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times New Delhi, December 18, 2014
First Published: 09:35 IST(18/12/2014) | Last Updated: 10:09 IST(18/12/2014)
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched its heaviest rocket GSLV-Mk III on Thursday at 9:30am from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO launches India's heaviest rocket GSLV Mark 3 (Photo courtesy- DD News)
This comes less than three months after Isro successfully launched Mangalyaan – a spacecraft orbiting Mars – catapulting India to the elite league of nations who have successfully sent missions to the red planet.
GSLV Mk III is conceived and designed to make India fully self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4500 to 5000 kg. It would also enhance the capability of the country to be a competitive player in the multimillion dollar commercial launch market.
“It is an experimental mission of GSLV MkIII towards launching heavier satellites,’ Isro chairperson K Radhakrishnan told HT.
It is designed to be a three stage vehicle, with 42.4 m tall with a lift off weight of 630 tonnes.
“This is a suborbital flight, carrying a crew module which will go up to a height of 120 km and then descend,”
Space Applications Centre director Dr Kiran Kumar said: "There will be a crew module as a dummy payload and cryogenic engine for weight simulation. The experimental flight with the crew module in a spacecraft will test whether its heat shield can survive very high temperatures during its re-entry into the atmosphere.”
The MkIII will also test the recovery of a dummy crew module from sea. The success of the module will be the core for a future Human Space Project
A few years back Isro had carried out a similar experiment on a smaller scale in which the module had orbited around the earth for 15 days before entering back.
8 comments
HindustanTimes
coggocog
coggocog • 5 minutes ago
How many geosychronous satellites India needs? Railways are planning to stop concessional railways passes. Mostly students use them. Railways make four paisas per rupee. ISRO scientists, work for pittance. The best talent available for space science has been used for a long period of time. The final stage of manned mission, may take several years from now. Till that time, budgetary allocations, meager as they are, cannot sustain any gains achieved so far.
Modi likes India to shine but he has no money after his defense spending. Add to that the cost of building one hundred smart cities, bullet trains serving only very rich and very connected folks of Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Gujarati-friends of Modi, Modi needs to rob banks. PSBs?
Something is wrong. I want to know. Don't you?
Hare Daridri Narayan!
...and I am Sid Harth
coggocog • 21 minutes ago
12
Financial Performance, 2013-14
38.
Given the promising trend of loading, th
e target has been scaled up to about
1052 million tonnes from th
e budget target of 1047 m
illion tonnes. However, the
average lead of freight traffic is falling, an
d is likely to be 622 km against budgeted
644.5 km. Yet, we are confid
ent of surpassing the freigh
t earnings target which has
been increased to Rs 94,000 crore from
Rs. 93,554 crore in Budget Estimates.
Considering the trend of passe
nger earnings, the revised target has been kept at Rs
37,500 crore.
39.
There has been continuing
strong inflationary pres
sure on the input costs,
especially the cost of fuel, both HSD Oil an
d electrical energy. There has also been
a higher than expected burden on account
of significant fresh recruitment in many
safety categories, additional dearness
allowance for Railway employees and
dearness relief for Railway pe
nsioners. Yet, as a result
of stringent and close
monitoring, the increase un
der Ordinary Working Expens
es has been kept at a
modest Rs 560 crore only. However, pensi
on allocation requireme
nts have gone up
by a more significant Rs 2,000 crore.
Dividend payment to General Revenues has
also gone up by Rs 1,591c
rore with the increase in
the rate from 4% to 5%.
40.
Considering the trend of earnings and
expenditure, the revised plan outlay
stands at Rs 59,359 crore. Operating Rati
o of Railways is likely to be 90.8% as
against budgeted target of 87.8%.
41.
I would like to assure the House that
continuing the ha
ppy trend of 2012-
13, and in a marked improvement from the
two earlier years, Rail
ways will end the
current year with surplus, and fund balances
would increase from Rs 2,391 crore at
the beginning of current fiscal to Rs 8,018
crore at the end of March, 2014. This is
primarily attributable to strict fiscal
discipline enforced by the organisation.
Budget Estima
tes, 2014-15
42.
Madam, I shall now deal with the
Budget Estimates for 2014-15.
43.
Anticipating a healthier
growth of economy, the fr
eight traffic target is
proposed at 1,101 million t
onnes, an increment of 49.7
million tonnes over the
current years’ revised target
of about 1052 million tonnes.
44.
The Budget Estimates for goods, passe
nger, other coaching and sundry
other earnings have been ke
pt at Rs. 1,05,770 crore,
Rs. 45,255 crore, Rs 4,200
crore and Rs. 5,500 crore resp
ectively in 2014-15.
The Gross Traffic Receipts have
been projected at Rs.
1,60,775 crore.
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coggocog • 33 minutes ago
Budget at a Glance
(Rs. in Crores)
Sl.
No
AREA BE 2013-2014 RE 2013-2014 BE 2014-2015
1
Space Technology
3869.65
2964.96
4339.62
2
Space Applications
686.47 593.02 794.45
3
INSAT Operational
1580.21 1035.8
5 1448.21
4
Space Sciences
521.29 404.50 418.30
5
Direction & Administration
and Other Programmes
134.38 173.67
237.42
Grand Total
6792.00
5172.00
7238.00
Source: HT
...and I am Sid Harth
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