India launches GSLV Mark 3 on successful test flight
Posted: Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 8:01 AM ET (1301 GMT)
An upgraded version of India's most powerful launch vehicle successfully carried out a suborbital test flight on Thursday. The GSLV Mark 3 rocket, also known as LVM3, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:00 pm EST Wednesday (0400 GMT, 9:30 am Indian time Thursday) on a suborbital test flight. The vehicle's two solid rocket boosters and its core stage engine performed well, Indian space agency officials said after the brief flight. The rocket carried a 3,775-kilogram spacecraft called the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE), a prototype of a future potential Indian human spacecraft. CARE splashed down in the Bay of Bengal 20 minutes after launch after flying to a peak altitude of 126 kilometers on its suborbital arc. The rocket flew only a dummy upper stage on Thursday's flight; an operational cryogenic upper stage will be flown on a test flight in two years. The GSLV Mark III will ultimately be able to carry satellites weighing up to four tonnes into geosynchronous orbit, and could be used for launches of crewed spacecraft.
An upgraded version of India's most powerful launch vehicle successfully carried out a suborbital test flight on Thursday. The GSLV Mark 3 rocket, also known as LVM3, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:00 pm EST Wednesday (0400 GMT, 9:30 am Indian time Thursday) on a suborbital test flight. The vehicle's two solid rocket boosters and its core stage engine performed well, Indian space agency officials said after the brief flight. The rocket carried a 3,775-kilogram spacecraft called the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE), a prototype of a future potential Indian human spacecraft. CARE splashed down in the Bay of Bengal 20 minutes after launch after flying to a peak altitude of 126 kilometers on its suborbital arc. The rocket flew only a dummy upper stage on Thursday's flight; an operational cryogenic upper stage will be flown on a test flight in two years. The GSLV Mark III will ultimately be able to carry satellites weighing up to four tonnes into geosynchronous orbit, and could be used for launches of crewed spacecraft.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, October 14
CSG Sets Sights on Space With Around $434 Million Stake in Canada’s MDA Space
Wall Street Journal — 6:30 am ET (1030 GMT) Czech defence company CSG buys 9.5% stake in MDA Space
Canadian Press — 6:29 am ET (1029 GMT) Europe’s CSG Becomes Largest Shareholder of MDA Space
ViaSatellite — 6:29 am ET (1029 GMT) Czech CSG Acquires 9.5% Stake In Canadarm Developer MDA
Aviation Week — 6:29 am ET (1029 GMT) Student-built SCAMPI experiment launches to the International Space Station
ESA — 6:28 am ET (1028 GMT) |
