India To Launch Its First GSLV Satellite

NeoCode writes: "Tomorrow, India will launch its first GSLV satellite using the Russian launchers. Its an amazing feat since they have built the satellite from scratch. If the launch is successful, India will become the sixth nation (US, Russia, China, Japan and the European Space Agency being the others) to build and launch a GSLV class satellite. Rediff.com has complete coverage on the story behind the making of this satellite. More details can found here @CNN, @TribundIndia.com and @Space.com."

Comments

Wha...?

[Enry]

According to CNN:

India is set to conduct the first test of a rocket to launch geostationary satellites this week.
India, which aims to launch a satellite with the GSLV after three successful tests, will join the United States, the European Space Agency, Japan, Russia and China as a member of the satellite launch club if all goes to plan.

Now according to this, it's a test of a ROCKET to put a satellite into geosync orbit (so it stays over the same point relative to the surface of the earth). After three tests of this rocket, THEN India will put a satellite up, presumably in geosync orbit.

New Power?

[Ravenscall]

It is Interesting to take a look at India and see just where they have been going recently.

They are the Tech Powerhouse of SouthEast Asia, and that is a lot considering all of the tech in SouthEast Asia. Their Economy is on the upswing. They may just be the next economic powerhouse.

Or their reliance on US and British goods will bring them down with us.

Either way, only the future will tell.

What's GSLV? An answer

[joshv]

GSLV=geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle.

I guess we all speak space jargon, so there was not need to put that on the front page.

-josh

Re:And what a nation!

[wfberg]

a shared military, a shared government ??? You really seems as ignorant as G. Bush !! Military relation between France and Germany are like those between France and USA in the OTAN... And shared government: wtf ! Don't you learn in school what is a governement, but perhaps you think we (the world) are all under the governship of the ONU...

For the benefit of L-T-R English readers:
OTAN=NATO
UNO=UN

This kind of Frenchification of abbreviations is exactly why "ISO" is not an abbreviation of "International Standards Organisation".. If that were the case, the French would spoil the standardization process by calling ISO OSI (Organisation de Standardisation Internationale).. EEk!
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A Few Corrections

[Sivaraj]

"Tomorrow, India will launch its first GSLV satellite using the Russian launchers.

GSLV is not a satellite. It is a launch vehicle - Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Its an amazing feat since they have built the satellite from scratch.

India had been building satellites for two decades now. This is not her first indegenious satellite. In fact, the one on GSLV-D1 is an experimental satellite with few useful payloads that are not very critical to indian communication infrastructure.

If the launch is successful, India will become the sixth nation (US, Russia, China, Japan and the European Space Agency being the others) to build and launch a GSLV class satellite.

GSLV satellites? I guess he means the geosynchronous satellites. ISRO's previous launch vehicle series, PSLV was used for launching satellites in a polar orbit. The latest Indian Remote-sensing Satellites (IRS series) had been launched using PSLV rockets.
The GSLV rockets currently use some Russian cryogenic engines. It is still a major stepping stone for indian space industry.

Re:Expansion

[TheTomcat]

[these numbers could be wrong... fair warning]

Geosynchronous Sattelite orbit is approx. 35,000km above earth's surface.

The earth's radius is at the surface ~6400 km.

So, the surface area (s) of of a GS sattelite's orbital plane would be:
s = 4(pi)(radius)^2
s = 4(3.14159)(35000 + 6400)^2
s = 4(3.14159)(41400)^2
s = 4(3.14159)(1713960000)
s = 21538238385.6

~21 _billion_ square kilometers is a whole lotta sky to plug up. AND, that's assuming that all GS sattelites travel on the same orbital plane.

BUT, assuming it's a plane, we have to worry about sattelites orbital paths intersecting at a time when both sattelites are at the intersection points of their orbits.

I'm sure that sattelite collisions are MUCH more more of a problem than "crowding the skies with junk".

Cluelessness mandates new /code feature...

[rakslice]

What is a GSLV satellite? There is no such thing. India has created a launch vehicle, not a satellite. There are way more countries with domestically produced satellites than are on that list, because the list is of countries with launch capability.

Apparently, the employees of slashdot wouldn't know journalism if it bit them in the ass. (And, aren't some of them journalism majors? =) Why did fact checking not catch this? Because you don't do any? --

So, this leads me to suggest the following: A preferences feature that lets me add certain editors to an "ignore" list, so I don't keep having to read the false crap that timothy regularly decides is worthy of slashdot.

Re:Each Country's Own

[fgodfrey]

The intro was rather confusingly worded. India has satelites. What the big deal here is is the *launch vehicle*. What that gets them is the ability to charge people for satelite launches.

And what a nation!

[BMazurek]

... sixth nation...

European Space Agency

My map of Europe must be out of date, because I don't remember that nation...

Must be in the Balkans...

Re:What's GSLV? An answer

[Fishstick]

Ok, so no, this is a launch system, not a satellite. They already make satellites.

"We have already shown the world that we can build successful commercial satellites," he continues. "Now if we prove that we can launch it correctly, it would be the next step."

The article says they want to be able to deliver a complete solution, build a satellite and put it in orbit for the customer. Hope they have a better success than the Chinese Long March failures.

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