India’s Largest Cryogenic Engine, Developed Indigenously By ISRO, Tested Successfully

Days after it set a record by sending 104 satellites into space in one go on board a single rocket, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved another milestone. The organisation, on Saturday, successfully tested country’s largest cryogenic engine that it has indigenously developed.

Only Russia, USA, France, China, and Japan have the technology to manufacture such engines and India has now joined the elite group.

This engine, capable of lifting 4-ton class satellites into the geo-synchronous orbit, will be used on ISRO’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III rocket. The geo-synchronous orbit is an orbit where satellites can match Earth's rotation. Located 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth's equator, this orbit is the most suitable site for monitoring weather, communications and surveillance.

The organisation is now set to test GSLV Mark III rocket which will be powered by this engine. The rocket is almost 50 meters high and weighs 414 tons. It was developed indigenously after Russia, under pressure from the United States in the late 1980s, refused to transfer India the technology requited to build such engines.