The Indian Space Research Organisation has released the first images of India's heaviest rocket, referred to as "Bahubali" days before it ferries India's Chandrayaan-2 into space. India's most ambitious space mission yet, Chandrayaan-2, which aims to place a robotic rover on the moon, will be launched on July 15 at 2:51 am. Here's all you need to know about the rocket.
Officials hint the visit could finally see a formal defence industrial road map being adopted by both nations.
India's second mission to the moon will be launched on Monday at 2.43 pm after its initial launch on July 15 was called off owing to a "technical glitch."
A high power satellite, GSAT-15 is being inducted into the INSAT/GSAT system. GSAT-15 carries a total of 24 communication transponders in Ku-band as well as a GPS-Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in L1 and L5 bands.
The Department of Space (DoS) plans to realise entirely-built rockets -- GSLV-Mk III and SSLV -- from Indian industry partners, in addition to PSLV, according to a top official of its commercial arm NSIL.
The flight took off from Sriharikota in the Bay of Bengal on schedule.
Weighing about 5,854 kg, GSAT-11 would play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country, and also provide a platform to demonstrate new generation applications.
India's heaviest rocket ever is expected to take to the sky next January on an experimental flight whose later versions could be used to send humans on space missions.
The satellite would provide a thrust to mobile communication through multi-beam coverage facility, the ISRO said.
An asteroid, about half the size of a football field, will pass in close proximity to Earth, closer than the orbits of some geosynchronous satellites, on Friday night.
The 43.43 metre tall rocket lifted off at 5.28 pm from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota
The placing of four satellites into orbit on October 12, 2011 is yet another milestone in the glorious career of Indian Space Research Organisation's trusted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
If the April launch of the Chandrayaan-2, the country's second mission to the Moon, is not possible, then the ISRO will aim for a launch by October.
GSAT-18, which aims at providing telecommunications services for the country by strengthening ISRO's current fleet of 14 operational telecom satellites, was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit about 32 minutes after the lift-off.
"Efforts are underway to establish the link with the satellite," it added.
Hours before Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module's proposed soft landing on the Lunar surface, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan said on Friday things are progressing as per plan for the much-awaited event.
Asked if the lander was 'damaged' during the 'hard landing", Sivan said: "That we do not know".
The GSAT-31 is a 'high power' communication satellite going to serve and replace some of the satellites that are going to expire soon.
ISRO chairman K Sivan said the proposed soft-landing was going to be a 'terrifying' moment.
The FAC found that the failure happened when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket's cryogenic engine was to kick in to take the rocket forward.
The MCF subsequently issued commands to the satellite to make the earth viewing face to orient towards earth. The calibration of the gyros on board the satellite was also carried out.
The satellite was placed at 4.18 pm, a little over 17 minutes after the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F-01) carrying it was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
It also carries equipment for meteorological data relay and satellite based search and rescue services being provided by earlier INSAT satellites.
The ISRO lost communication with the satellite when it attempted to ignite the engine in a third and final move to its desired location.
"I am extremely happy to announce that GSLV Mark III successfully injected Chandrayaan 2 in the defined orbit, infact the orbit is 6,000 km more than what was intended," Sivan said.
The Indian space agency has already begun work on the third generation of the earth observation satellite -- the first of which will be ready by 2018 and boost the capability to generate digital maps.
The mission life of the 2,250kg GSAT-7A, built by ISRO, is eight years. It will provide communication capability to users in Ku-band over the Indian region.
Although Russia, United States and China have achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface, India is aiming at becoming the first one to explore the south pole of the Moon.
Indian Space Research Organisation's plan to soft land Chandrayaan-2's Vikram module on the Lunar surface did not go as per script in the early hours of Saturday, with the lander losing communication with ground stations during its final descent.
The launch of a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle was called off by the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation at the eleventh hour on Monday due to a fuel leak in its second stage -- in a setback to the mission to test its homegrown cryogenic engine -- after its failure three years ago.
Over 32 missions -- satellites and rockets -- have been planned for the year.
GSLV-MK III, which uses a homegrown cryogenic engine, has to do at least two more launches before it begins commercial operations, report Raghu Krishnan and T E Narasimhan.
India's heavy-lift rocket GSLV MkIII, carrying communication satellite GSAT-19.
GSLV Mark-III will be India's most powerful launch vehicle built to lift the heaviest Indian communications satellites to space.
Dr Bhabha and Dr Sarabhai didn't feel guilty for their ambitions; it was for those 'mad scientists' that India is a powerhouse -- both at the atomic level and in the vastness of space, observes Kumar Abishek.
ISRO launched 12 Indian, 22 foreign satellites and successfully flight-tested India's first winged-body aerospace vehicle.
Boosting India's communication services, its latest satellite GSAT-16 was successfully launched on board Arianespace rocket from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana in the early hours of Sunday, after a delay of two days due to bad weather.
Arianespace launch vehicle Ariane-5 VA-231, carrying GSAT-18 along with co-passenger Sky Muster II for the Australian operator nbn (National Broadband Network) was scheduled for launch at 2am on Wednesday.
The ISRO is aiming for a soft landing of the lander in the South Pole region of the moon where no country has gone so far.
The launch of IRNSS IC, the third of seven satellites in the series to put in place India's navigation system at par with US' Global Positioning System, that was deferred following a technical snag has been rescheduled for October 16.
