ISRO will ground test its S-200 solid propellant rocket motor for the GSLV Mk-3 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, during the third week of January 2010. Photo Credit: Vijainder K Thakur/Sawf NewsJanuary 04, 2010, (Sawf News) - ISRO will ground test its S-200 solid propellant rocket motor for the GSLV Mk-3 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, during the third week of January 2010.
"We are going to test the S-200, the solid booster, in the third week of January," ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan told PTI on the sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress in Thiruvanthapuram on Janaury 4.
The S-200 motors (200 ton propellant, 25m) are the third largest solid propellant boosters in the world - after the US Space Shuttle's booster (440 ton, 37.8m) and Europe's Ariane (240 ton, 31.6m)
S-200 motors are being manufactured in a largely automated plant in Sriharikota built by Indian engineers and industry.
The S-200 motors have a fuel burn time of 103 secs, against Ariane's 130 sec and Space Shuttle booster's 123 sec.
The solid rocket under development for Ares1 will eventually become the heaviest solid propellant rocket motor with a diameter of 3.77m, length of 52m, propellant capacity of 625 ton and a burn time of 123 seconds.
The GLSV Mk-3 is a three-stage launcher with a 110 ton core liquid propellant stage (L-110) using two Vikas engines, a strap-on stage with two solid propellant S-200 motors, and a cryogenic upper stage with a propellant loading of 25 tonne (C-25).
The launcher is not a derivative of GSLV. It is a completely new design.
For more details see the GSLV Mk-3 knol.
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