THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With two successful missions powered by Indian cryogenic engines under its belt, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to scale up its missions using the GSLV Mk-II rocket.
From 2016 onwards, there will be two missions every year using the Mk-II version of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk-II), ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar said on the sidelines of a function organised by the High Energy Materials Society of India (HEMSI) here on Thursday.
The Mk-II version is capable of carrying satellites weighing up to 2,500 kg. “Up until this year we’ve had only one GSLV mission per year,” Kumar said.
And ISRO chief,who visited Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre(VSSC) at Valiyamala here, reviewed the work on the GSLV Mk-III version which is scheduled for a full-fledged flight test using a more powerful Indian cryo engine, in December 2016.
With the work pending, the space agency has deferred the much-awaited Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) mission until the beginning of next year, he said. In December, ISRO plans to put six Singapore satellites into orbit using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Kumar also gave away the HEMSI-M R Kurup Endowment Awards to former VSSC Deputy Directors, K N Ninan and C B Kartha at a function here.
The Indian cryogenic engine, which powers the upper stage of the Mk-II rocket, was successfully flight-tested for the first time on January 5, 2014, to place the GSAT 14 satellite into orbit.
ISRO did a successful encore on August 27 this year to put the GSAT 6 satellite into orbit.