As much as it is fun to say the word “geosynchronous”, it is much more fun to know that India has achieved this feat only 6th to U.S., Russia, Japan, China and France. We have made it to the club of countries that have successfully launched an indigenous cryogenic engine, which basically means we launched it indigenously; or without foreign aid. WOO TO THE HOO!!
Despite many unsuccessful attempts earlier on, our determined buddies at ISRO carried on forward and finally made the latest launch a complete success. Out of a total of eight launches; three were successful, four have failed, and one was a partial failure- placing the satellite into a not particularly planned, but recoverable, orbit.
This time around, our good people at ISRO had been extremely vigilant in tightening loose ends to avoid another futile attempt. Of course this meant that design modifications had to be implemented wherever required in the launch vehicle along with thorough ground testing and improvements.
The launch vehicle was carrying that GSAT-14, which is India’s 23rd geostationary communication satellite. It will be stationed alongside INSAT-3C, INSAT-4CR and KALPANA-1 satellites already in orbit.
We at 4CAST are not only extremely proud of ISRO for carrying out this stellar (ha-ha?) achievement, but also are feeling so very smug to be citizens of the country that is now a part of the cool space-loving nations club.