India to test fly its heaviest rocket yet

India is on its way to make strides yet again in rockets. On December 18^th India is set to test fly its heaviest and upgraded rocket yet – the Geosynchronous Satelite Launching Vehicle (GSLV – Mark III). ISRO tweeted that this heaviest launching vehicle which will be weighing 630 tonnes will be powered by both liquid and solid fuel engines. The rocket will have a cryogenic stage/engine which will be a passive one.

The rocket will also carry a crew module to test the re-entry characteristics of it. MYS Prasad, the director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota has stated to the press that the main purpose of the mission is to understand the atmospheric characteristics and stability of the rocket on its way up. He added that they wanted to test one component of the crew module, that is, a human space mission that India may embark on a later date.

This experimental mission will cost Rs 155 crore and it does not carry any satellite due to the cryogenic engine required for it being under development. MYS Prasad has stated that the development of a cryogenic engine will take two more years. However, since the other rocket engines are ready, ISRO decided to go ahead with the test flight mission. This launch vehicle will be the largest for India and it can carry satellites weighing up to four tonnes.

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1189989