India all set to joint elite group of Nations

Chennai, Jan 9: India would join on elite group of nations with the tomorrow's launch of a new mission to test re-entry technology, which would be a forerunner to developing reusable vehicles like space shuttle.

Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) reliable workhorse launch vehile PSLV-C7 will soar into the skies from the spaceport of Sriharikota and hurtle into space four payloads, including the 550 kg Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1).

With this, India would join an elite class of countries possessing this SRE technology--the United States, Russia and China.

The T-52 hour countdown for the launch of the PSLV-C7 began at 0548 hrs yesterday and it was progessing smoothly.

The PSLV-C7, in its tenth flight would launch India's remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2 (680 kg), besides Indonesia's earth observation satellite LAPAN-TUBSAT (56 kg) and Argentina's nano-satellite PEHUENSAT-1 (six kg) into a 635 km high polar sun synchronous orbit.

The SRE-1, after being in orbit for 13 to 30 days, would be de-orbited and will splash down in the Bay of Bengal, about 140 km east of Sriharikota coast. A floatation system would keep the capsule afloat and it would be recovered by the Coast Guard. ''When the SRE descends from its orbit, its three parachutes will open one after another when it is five km above the waters of the Bay of Bengal and commands given to drop down,'' ISRO sources told UNI