May 8 2003
From The Space Library
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-D2 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India. The main payload was the GSAT-2, a geostationary communications and space-monitoring satellite, which carried four C-band and two Ku-band transponders that would provide voice and video transmissions to India and neighboring countries. The GSLV-D2 also carried into orbit experimental payloads: a Coherent Radio Beacon Experiment, a Solar X-ray Spectrometer, an external Total Radiation Dose Monitor, a Radiation Sensitive Field Effect Transistor, and a Surface Change Monitor. However, its main mission was to test the GSLV-D2, an improved version of the GSLV first launched in April 2001. (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 595, 1 June 2003, http://nssdc.GSFC.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx595.html (accessed 20 November 2008); K. S. Jayaraman, “India Launches Second GSLV Rocket with GSAT,” Space.com, 8 May 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/gslv_launch_030508.html (accessed 1 December 2008).
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