ISRO to conduct GSLV test flight in 2012 with Russian cryogenic stage engine

SRIHARIKOTA : The Indian Space Research Organisation ( Isro ) will conduct a test flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle ( GSLV ) with a Russian cryogenic stage engine by the first half of 2012, said its chairman K Radhakrishnan .

The test flight would be conducted only after making necessary improvements based on the analysis of the GSLV F06 that failed on December 25, 2010.

“We modified the booster pump in the liquid propulsion tank and tested it on Tuesday . More tests need to be conducted before it is integrated with the engine . We are also looking at a problem posed by the shroud of the rocket . The shroud failed so the connector could not function ,” said S Ramakrishnan , director , Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of Isro . Of the seven engines procured from Russia , only two are left, said Ramakrishnan .

Two of India’s GSLV launches last year had failed — GSLV (D3) on April 15 and GSLV- F06 on December 25. Isro has had a troubled past with GSLV , on which rest India’s ambitious space programmes like the manned mission to space . Only two of the seven GSLV launches have been total successes. Though Isro claims that four launches had been successful, independent observers say only two of them were total successes.