A cryogenic stage full-duration test is expected to confirm India’s position as the sixth country to possess a highly complex technology. Other countries that already have it are the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and China.
The firing is called a full-duration test because the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) with a cryogenic stage will also fire for 720 seconds in actual flight before injecting a satellite weighing more than 2,500 kg into an orbit of 36,000 km by 180km.
If the test is successful, a GSLV with India’s own cryogenic stage will lift off from Sriharikota this year itself. It will make the country totally self-reliant in every department of rocket technology.
A cryogenic engine uses liquid hydrogen at -265 degrees Celsius as fuel and liquid oxygen at -240 degrees Celsius as oxidiser. Development of the engine involves a highly complex technology because of the very low temperatures of the propellant.
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