India has successfully launched a rocket carrying a capsule recovery experiment to prepare for future human missions.
“It was a textbook mission,” said Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
On Wednesday, a 44-metre Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasted off from Sriharikota in southern Andhra Pradesh state carrying four payloads. One, called the Space Capsule Recovery Equipment (SRE-1), will be recovered on Earth after several weeks in orbit and will be used to develop recovery technologies for future human and robotic missions.
Others include a 680-kilogram remote-sensing satellite named CARTOSAT-2 that will gather climate and geographical data, an Indonesian Earth-observation satellite and a satellite from Argentina.
Advertisement
Indian space officials have said they hope to send an uncrewed probe to the Moon, and in December 2006 announced a plan to send an uncrewed mission to Mars by 2013 to look for evidence of life.
In July 2006, a rocket carrying India’s heaviest satellite disintegrated in smoke and flames seconds after lift-off, dealing a blow to the country’s ambitious space programme. “Extra care was taken [this time] to re-examine all the system and sub-systems,” said George Koshy, vehicle director of the Indian space agency.
The Indian Space Research Organisation has a budget of 36 billion rupees ($850 million) and also receives payment for launching satellites from other nations.
