A View Of Motor On Test Bench Of ISRO

The GSLV-III or Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle mark III is a launch vehicle currently under development by the Indian Space Research Organization. It is intended to launch heavy satellites into geostationary orbit, and will allow India to become less dependent on foreign rockets for heavy lifting.

The rocket is the technological successor to the GSLV, however is not derived from its predecessor. The GSLV-I has a Russian-made cryogenic third stage, which is to be replaced with an identical Indian-built one for the GSLV-II. US objections based on the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) prevented the Russia-India technology transfer that would have enabled this, leading to cancellation of the GSLV-II. The maiden flight of GSLV MK III is scheduled to take place in 2010-11.

Now ISRO has made a significant step towards development of GSLV MK III .It  successfully conducted the static test of its largest solid booster S200 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota on January 24, 2010. The successful test of S200 makes it the third largest solid booster in the world, next to the RSRM solid booster of Space Shuttle and P230 solid booster of ARIANE-5. The S200 solid booster will form the strap-on stage for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) which is currently under advanced stage of development for launching 4 ton class of communication satellites.

In a Press Release of ISRO it was said   : "S200 solid booster contains 200 tonnes of solid propellant in three segments. The motor measures 22 meter long and 3.2 meter in diameter. The design, development and successful realisation of S200 solid booster were a pure indigenous effort involving Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and Satish Shawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota with the participation of Indian Industries. The S200 solid booster derived its heritage from the solid boosters developed earlier for the ISRO launch vehicle programme. The preparation and casting of S200 solid booster segments were carried out at the newly established Solid Propellant Plant (SPP) at SDSC, Sriharikota."

During the test, the S200 booster was fired for 130 seconds and generated a peak thrust of about 500 tonnes. The performance of the booster was exactly as predicted. Nearly 600 health parameters were monitored during the test and the initial data indicates normal performance.

Todays successful test of S200 is a major milestone in the solid rocket motor programme of ISRO and a vital step in the development of GSLV Mk III.

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Videos Of GSLV 

The above Video Shows the Successful Launch of fifth flight of GSLV (GSLV-F04). India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F04, had a successful launch on September 2, 2007 at 18.20 hours from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota and it placed India's INSAT-4CR into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). This was the fifth flight of GSLV and the fourth successful one.(Video Source : ISRO)

An Animation Showing GSLV MK III Orbiter.