ISRO to review readiness for launch of navigation satellite IRNSS 1-B tomorrow

Chennai: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to hold a meeting tomorrow to review readiness for the launch of navigation satellite IRNSS 1-B onboard PSLV C24 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, some 100 km from here.

"The vehicle will be moved from Bangalore to Sriharikota on March 3, subject to clearances. The launch is likely to be any day after March 31. It might be in the first week of April," ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at SRM University, he said that the ISRO officials would meet tomorrow to review the readiness of IRNSS 1-B. IRNSS 1-B is the second of seven satellites of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. As for the GSLV Mark III, an experimental flight was being planned in the end of May or in the first week of June this year, which would carry a crew module to test the atmospheric phase of the flight. The mission would carry the passive cryogenic stage, which would not get ignited during the flight. ``But aerodynamically the vehicle will be in full form of GSLV-Mk III, which will reach the orbit up to a distance of 120 km,`` he added. The experimental flight of GSLV-Mk III was getting ready and it would have the solid strap-ons and the liquid core stage functioning and giving a velocity of nearly five km per second, whereas the upper cryogenic stage will not be ignited, which was also called the passive cryogenic stage.