The Hindu Business Line : ‘Indian cryo stage just a step away’

Bangalore, Aug. 6 The fully Indian cryogenic upper stage of ISRO’s satellite launcher is now just a lap away from final qualification, according to officials.

On Saturday, the stage completed a second and much longer eight-minute ground testing.

The next and perhaps final step is to ground test it for at least 12 minutes – as during an actual GSLV flight, said ISRO spokesman Mr S. Krishnamurthy.

When the last test happens in the coming months, it will put the country in an elite ‘cryo club’ that now has only the US, Russia, Europe and, perhaps, Japan.

It will be the fruition of a 14-year pursuit of the crucial link in the country’s satellite launch vehicle development programme.

The four GSLV flights have so far used Russian cryo stages supplied in the 90s to power their third stage.

Even as Saturday’s results are being analysed, ISRO has started fabricating the flight stage that will be fitted into the GSLV-D3, slated for March 2008.

That launcher will be fully indigenous and carry the GSat-4 experimental satellite.

The Rs 750-crore Cryogenic Upper Stage Project (CUSP) took off as a result of ISRO being denied access to Russian cryogenic technology in the 90s.

A cryo stage is considered superior to those based on liquid or solid propellants, but complicated. It boosts the launcher’s carrying capacity.

But it falls under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and cannot be acquired.

India needs an indigenous stage to propel its own low-cost space-based programmes.

The cryo stage was first ground-tested for 50 seconds in October 2006.

“The indigenous development of the cryogenic stage is complete. What we have achieved means that we have made a car and driven it well for a few km. We now have to try it for 100 km,” Mr Krishnamurthy said.

The stage will also go into GSLV-Mk3 that is due for trial in 2009.

The Mk3 will have a four-tonne lifting capacity, double that of the current GSLV.

Public and private sector industries have been involved in CUSP for supplying tankages, components, nozzles, electronics, insulation and handling materials at minus 250 degrees Celsius.

Mr Krishnamurthy said that scaling up the cryo stage or taking it to production stage should not pose any problem.

“The industry has been involved right from the start of the programme,” he said, especially in the running of liquid hydrogen and oxygen plants.