Isro postpones GSLV-MKIII flight scheduled in August

BANGALORE: With the mars orbiter mission (MOM) taking clear priority, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has postponed the key GSLV-MKIII experimental mission, which was initially scheduled for launch in the last week of this month.
Notwithstanding the great success the PSLV class of launch vehicles, GSLV holds the key for many of Isro’s future programmes including Chandrayaan-II and the proposed human spaceflight programme.An Isro spokesperson, confirming the postponement, said: “...We don’t have a date as of now. The priority is MOM,” the spokesperson said.
Trustworthiness of the GSLV platform, equipped to carry heavier payloads to greater distances is something Isro has been wanting to achieve after a series of flights had failed between 2012-2012.
Strides in human spaceflight program
While the wait for GSLV will continue, India’s hopes of sending humans on a spaceflight is taking steps in the right direction with Isro making considerable progress in the proposed Rs 12,500 crore Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP), whose objective is to carry a crew of two to the low earth orbit (LEO) and return them safely.
Isro, which has received Rs 149-crore for pre project activities is progressing with a focus on the development of critical technologies for subsystems such as crew module (CM), environmental control and life support system (ECLSS), crew escape system, et al.
“We are also looking at performance demonstration of major systems through crew module atmospheric re-entry experiment (CARE) and crew escape system through Pad Abort Test (PAT),” a senior scientist said.
The GSLV-MKIII experimental flight was to also test the crew module structure of HSP. Stating that Isro aims at completing the the mission within this calendar year, the scientist said the crew module structure is in advance stage of realisation for the same.
Further, Isro has already completed preliminary design reviews for most of the systems pertaining to CARE and PAT. It has also successfully completed configuration, layout, and structural analysis of the crew module for CARE. Crew escape system, which will prove to be a critical technology has been successfully demonstrated and the agency even carried out a parachute ejection test at its Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh. Wind tunnel testing of Scale model of Crew escape system was completed in National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore.