GSLV F 01 launches Edusat successfully

Sriharikota:
21 September 2004

The sound of four strap-on booster rockets powered by 40-ton hypergolic liquid propellants (UH25 and N204) and the 138 tons of solid propellant in the core motor that provided a 4,736 kilo Newton (kN) thrust, reverberated throughout the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota like a thunder roll.

As it started its ascent-first and final- thrust upwards at a power of 4,736 kilo Newton (kN) by the four strap-on booster rockets guzzling 40-ton of hypergolic liquid propellants (UH25 and N204) and 138 tons of solid propellant in the core motor, GSLV F 01's roar reverberated throughout the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota.

As a flaming witness to the jubilant cheering by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials and journalists on the terrace of SDSC and of the people perched on nearby rooftops, the 49-metre high vehicle (weighing 414 tons) rose majestically to escape the earth's gravitational pull, leaving behind an anaconda like trail of white smoke.

17 minutes into its journey towards the heavens, GSLV F 01 performed its birth karma. It spat out its Rs90 crore payload 5,000 km away from the launch pad somewhere over Indonesia into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) of 180 km perigree (nearest point to earth) and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 35,985 km. The orbital inclination was 19.2 degree from the equator.

Fired at intervals by the onboard liquid apogee motors, the satellite will be manoeuvred to the 36,000km-high geostationary orbit to be collocated with Kalpana-1 / Metsat and Insat 3C satellites at 74 degree East longitude. The dry mass of the satellite, which is the weight excluding the onboard fuel, is 820kg.