ISRO gearing up for GSLV/GSAT-9 mission on May five

CHENNAI: The Indian Space Agency is gearing up for the launch of a GSLV mission, the first this year, from the spaceport of  Sriharikota on May five.

     The GSLV-F09 would be carrying the communication satellite GSAT-9 and it would lift off from the Second Launch Pad.    The timing of the launch was expected to be announced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a day or two.

   This would be the first GSLV mission in eight months after the  success of GSLV-F05, the first operational flight of GSLV powered  by the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), when it launched  the advanced weather satellite the 2,211 kg INSAT-3DR in the desired  orbit on September eight last year.

    ISRO sources said GSAT-9 is a Geostationary Communication Satellite  being launched with the objective to provide various communication  applications in Ku-band with coverage over South Asian countries.

    The 2,230 kg GSAT-9 was configured around the ISRO’s standard  I-2K bus.

    The main structure of the satellite is cuboid in shape built around  a central cylinder with a mission life of more than 12 years.

    GSLV-F09 mission would be the 11th flight of GSLV and its fourth  consecutive flight with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS).

   The success of the previous GSLV mission in September last year provided the much needed boost for future GSLV missions to launch  satellites weighing two to 2.2 tonnes using India’s own cryogenic  engine.

On that occasion, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar had said that with  the third successive GSLV successful mission, GSLV had truly proved  that it was the operational vehicle for ISRO, with the Make in India  Cryogenic stage.

     The success of GSLV-F05 also helped India join the five space faring  nations–US, Russia, UK, China, Japan and France–in mastering the  complex cryogenic stage.

     Prior to this, the previous two successive successful missions were in January 2014 and in August 2015 after which the Indian Space agency  had announced that the the GSLV has shed the developmental tag and it  has got the operational tag.

(AGENCIES)