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ASLV PSLV GSLV SpaceFlight India's Launch Vehicle

GSLV
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) came on 18 April from Sriharikota. The flight, designated GSLV-D1, began at 10.13 GMT and placed the 1540kg GSAT 1 payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). The satellite will use its own propulsion system to reach a geosynchronous (24-hour) orbit. The orbit is slightly lower than a true GTO, having the following parameters: inclination 19.3 degrees, orbital period 557.6 minutes, perigee 168km and apogee 31,961km.
The GSLV is a three-stage vehicle, with the first stage supplemented by four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters. The first two stages are modifications of those used on the previously flown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The introduction of the GSLV means that India no longer has to rely upon foreign launchers to place communications and remote sensing satellites into geosynchronous orbits. However, whether the GSLV will ever become a viable commercial launch vehicle is open to question; there are already sufficient launch vehicles available for such work without a newcomer entering the marketplace. More...

PSLV
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C2 lifted off at 2:22 am EDT (0622 UT) from the Indian Space Research Organization's launch facility at Sriharikota, an island in southern India. The rocket successfully placed three satellites into a 727-km (450-mi.) polar orbit. The launch was the fourth success for the PSLV, a four-stage rocket that uses a combination of solid- and liquid-propellant stages, along with a set of strap-on boosters. In addition to the PSLV, which can place about 1.2 tons into polar orbit, India is also developing the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), capable of placing 2.5 tons into geosynchronous orbit. More...

ASLV
The ASLV was created by adding two additional boosters modified from the SLV-3's first stage and by making other general improvements to the basic SLV-3 4 stage stack. The ASLV is actually a five-stage vehicle since the core first stage does not ignite until just before the booster rockets burn out. The payload capacity of the ASLV is approximately 150 kg to an orbit of 400 km with a 47 degree inclination.The first launch of the ASLV on 24 March 1987 failed when the bottom stage of the core vehicle did not ignite after booster burn-out. The second attempt ended with the Rohini payload falling into the Bay of Bengal on 13 July 1988 when the vehicle became unstable and broke up soon after release of the booster rockets. Finally, on 20 May 1992 the SROSS 3 (Stretched Rohini Satellite Series) was inserted into LEO by the third ASLV. However, instead of obtaining a circular orbit near 400 km, the ASLV only achieved a short-lived orbit of 256 km by 435 km, not unlike the degraded performance of the SLV-3 launch of 31 May 1981.
The last ASLV mission in May, 1994 successfully reached its programmed orbit of 434 km by
921 km. More...

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Launch Vehicle: India