The India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will use an indigenously developed cryogenic engine to launch the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Reports say that IRSO will undertake the launch operation in July this year. The use of home-grown cryogenic engine to put GSAT-4 into orbit will end India's dependency on Russia. India has been importing the cryogenic engines from Russia since 1991. So far, India has launched five GSLV rockets.

 

Unlike the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the GSLV is capable of placing a 2-tonne satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. The GSLV uses all the three kinds of propellants including solid, liquid and cryogenic while PSLV uses only solid and liquid propellants and is capable of carrying payloads less than 2 tonnes. While talking to media, an ISRO source said that all the previous GSLV flights used Russian made cryogenic engines. But now ISRO has developed its own cryogenic engines and all the tests have been completed successfully, the source added.

 

The indigenous cryogenic engine has also acquired the flight acceptance and it will be used in the next flight of GSLV, informed the ISRO source. The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in Trivandrum, Material Development and Research Centre at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Liquid Propulsion Test Facility (LPSC) at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu have jointly carried out the work of

developing India's own cryogenic engine. At the initial stage, the project was started with an investment of about Rs 235 crore.