'Naughty Boy' GSLV rocket now smart, disciplined & mature: ISRO

The successful orbiting of India's third generation weather satellite INSAT-3DS in a copybook style on Saturday has enhanced the confidence about the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket for the next prestigious launch, said officials of Indian space agency.

The GSLV rocket (formerly GSLV-MkII) had earned the nickname 'naughty boy' during its initial days for its inconsistent performance.

"The confidence on the GSLV rocket is now high," S. Somanath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

He said the next space mission for the GSLV rocket will be the launch of Indo-US collaboration earth observation satellite NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR).

On Saturday, the 'naughty boy' came to a lot of praise from the ISRO officials starting from Somanath.

S.Unnikrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) said the 'naughty boy' has now become smart and everything pertaining to the mission went off smoothly.

"The naughty boy has matured and has become a disciplined boy now. The rocket had injected the satellite in its intended orbit, said Tomy Joseph," Mission Director of GSLV-F4/INSAT-3DS.

Joseph also said the rocket had carried 50 kg more weight than what was carried in the earlier mission.

According to the Satellite Director, Imteyaz Ahmad, the four metre diametre heat shield is important as it enables to build bigger satellites.

V.Narayanan, Director, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre said the payload capacity of the rocket has been increased from about 1,500 kg first to 2,274 kg now – the weight of the INSAT-3DS satellite. According to M. Sankaran, Director, U R Rao Satellite Centre, INSAT-3DS life span has now extended by three months -- mission design life 10 years -- owing to the orbit achieved.

A. Rajarajan, Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre said the launch campaign went off without any hitch and the centre is gearing up for the next rocket launch.