India's largest rocket, which may carry humans to space some day, is expected to be launched today Monday June 05,2017
The 640-ton GSLV Mk III rocket - as much as 200 full-grown Asian elephants or five Jumbo jets - will be on its maiden flight from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 5.28 pm.
The 24-hour countdown has already started. For now, the rocket will carry a satellite.
It is expected that one day -- in over 7 years -- it will carry astronauts to space.
The rocket was developed over 15 years at a cost of Rs. 300 crore. The "Monster Rocket", as it has been dubbed by scientists, is as high as a 13-storey building and can launch satellites as heavy as 4 tonnes (4,000 kg).
Currently, India has to take the help of foreign nations if she wants to launch communication satellites beyond 2.3 tons.
Today it will carry a 3136 Kg Satellite
Not only will GSLV make India self-reliant, it will also open the way to attracting foreign customers.
The rocket is powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine that uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants
The GSAT-19 "carries a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the nature of charged particles and the influence of space radiation on satellites and their electronic components".
ISRO says GSAT-19 also features certain advanced spacecraft technologies including "miniaturised heat pipe, fibre optic gyro, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometer". These are all important developments being tested so that they become mainstay systems on future missions.
The most innovative development on GSAT-19 is that for the first time there will be no transponders on the satellite.
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