The Hindu Business Line : Sriharikota gearing up for new launches

More space now
Satish Dhawan Space Centre is now readying to fly the fourth GSLV during July 10-15.
This will be the heaviest and the first home launch of an operational communication satellite, the Insat-4C.

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) , July 2

These are busy times for the Sriharikota satellite launch centre, which is biding its time in the multi-billion-dollar space services market and has three major missions ticking over the next eight months.

The launch of the 600-kg European Agile satellite in early 2007 should book a slot for the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) as a spaceport to reckon with.

According to its Director, Mr M. Annamalai, SDSC may be milestones behind Europe's Kourou, the US or Russian spacepads, but a launch here is just as reliable while saving 35 per cent cost for satellite operators.

"We have made 11 successful launches in a row (since 1994) and hope to have four launches a year soon," Mr Annamalai told a visiting media team from Bangalore, headquarters of the Department of Space.

Only the PSLV (pole-to-pole launch to place a satellite at 900 km height) has gone commercial with four small satellites. But a spaceport has arrived only when its GSLV is sought — for equatorial, geostationary placement at 36,000 km.

GSLV home launch

A replay of what SDSC can do is just around the corner: it is now readying to fly the fourth GSLV during July 10-15.

This will be the heaviest and the first home launch of an operational communication satellite, the Insat-4C. This will be done on its new, versatile second launchpad, built for Rs 400 crore by MECON and L&T.

Next to fly around August would be the Cartosat-2.

Rocket capability

Through 2008-09, SDSC will be at the frontline of the Indian Moon odyssey and the GSLV Mk3, a Rs 2,500-crore project to double the rocket capability to four tonnes, which means an augmented infrastructure and a growing role for industry.

As part of the overall ISRO policy, SDSC, too, "is increasingly outsourcing some non-critical and non-hazardous operations and maintenance of its facilities to public and private sector players," Mr Annamalai said.

In recent years, SDSC has sourced hardware from Tata Steel, Heavy Electricals Corporation, CMTI of Bangalore for the vertical fuel mixer; Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for rocket strap-ons; Andhra Sugars Ltd for liquid fuel supply; and Siemens for control systems.