Today at 5:35 p.m., ISRO is scheduled to launch its GSLV F14/INSAT-3DS mission from the Sriharikota launch site.
ISRO Latest INSAT-3DS launch : With the intention of providing more precise and educational weather forecasts and alerts for natural disasters, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch its meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS atop spacecraft GSLV F14 on Saturday evening.
According to a notification from the Indian space agency, the INSAT-3DS will be launched on February 17 at 5:35 p.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, aboard the GSLV F14 rocket.
The INSAT-3DS satellite is to be launched into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on this, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle’s (16th) space mission. This project, which represents a significant milestone in India’s space exploration efforts, has been fully financed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
India’s space agency is quite excited about the launch of INSAT-3DS because this satellite can investigate the ocean’s surface and produce very accurate weather forecasts, which can help prevent disasters.
India’s meteorological agencies rely heavily on the INSAT-3DS launch, but the carrier GSLV F14—dubbed the “naughty boy” of India’s space agency—has a history of malfunctions.
Why is GSLV F14 called ‘naughty boy’?
The INSAT-3DS meteorological satellite will be launched into space by the GSLV F14 spacecraft on its sixteenth mission. But according to a former ISRO chairman, the spacecraft is the “naughty boy” of the Indian space program.
The GSLV has a 40% failure rate and has seen a number of delivery-related issues in the past. GSLV F14 has experienced issues in six of its fifteen space missions to date.
This spacecraft was part of a successful mission that concluded in May 2023, however the previous mission had ended in failure.
INSAT-3DS mission details
The mission GSLV-F14/INSAT-3DS, scheduled for Saturday, is intended to support the current INSAT-3D (launched in 2013) and INSAT-3DR (September 2016) missions by continuing to provide enhanced meteorological observations, monitor land and ocean surfaces for weather forecasting and disaster warning, and provide satellite-assisted research and rescue (SAR) services, among other things, according to the ISRO.