Hi Folks,

The spring season is over and we are all set for a brutal summer. I just hope it would be bearable. April 15 does not remind us of someone special or something spectacular, but from now on, it would be remembered as an important landmark that would be reached on Thursday, 15 April, 2010. You all guessed it right.....ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) will be launching its Geosynchronous Sattelite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) into space. GSLV-D3 will inject the satellite GSAT-4 into the geostationary orbit at a height of 36,000 km over the equator. This will be the 19th GSLV built by ISRO. So what is so special about it this time?
Scientists and engineers of ISRO will be flight testing Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) which is developed by them through intensive research over the past 15 years. This project took off when India was denied the CUS technology by the developed countries.
With CUS in it's kit, India would join the elite club of five nations namely US, Russia, Japan, China and Isreal which have all mastered the complicated technology of Cryogenic engine. Until now ISRO was using Russian made cryogenic engine but due to the technology denial policy of the US, Russia had to stop giving us the cryogenic technology. Thus, the project to build our own cryogenic engine was started in 1996. Hats off to the team of scientists and all other people involved in achieving this stupendous task. This is really a proud moment for all of us. Hope the technology succeeds so that we can use it to launch all our future satellites.

Signing off for now,
KK