ISRO all set to launch heaviest rocket on Monday

To script a new history in the space technology, the Indian Space Research Organisation is all set to launch its heaviest GSLV-Mk III rocket carrying high-tech communication satellite on Monday from country's spaceport in Sriharikota with the twenty-five and half hour countdown process started on Sunday.

A senior spokesperson told Deccan Herald that the Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) have cleared the 25 and a half hour countdown of GSLV MkIII D1 / GSAT-19 mission for Sunday starting at 3.58 pm.

GSLV-Mk III is capable launching four ton class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The GSLV rocket is the first developmental flight, carrying 3,136kg GSAT-19 satellite to a GTO.

The ISRO official said that GSLV Mk III-D1/GSAT-19 mission is scheduled to be launched on 5, June 2017 at 4.28 pm from the second launch pad at SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

He said the design and development of GSLV Mk III are based on ISRO's rich experience in handling solid, liquid and cryogenic rocket propulsion technologies.

"The first suborbital test flight of GSLV Mk III was successfully conducted on December 18, 2014", he added.

GSAT-19 satellite with a lift-off mass of 3136 kg, is the communication satellite of India, configured around the ISRO’s standard I-3K bus.

GSAT-19 carries Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders. Besides, it 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. 

GSAT-19 also features certain advanced spacecraft technologies including miniaturised heat pipe, fibre optic gyro, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometer, Ku-band TTC transponder, as well an indigenous Lithium-ion Battery.