ISRO to launch its 'naughty boy' today, why is INSAT-3DS called so?
In a critical mission for the rocket known as "naughty boy" due to its patchy track record, the meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS will be launched into space on a Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle this Saturday evening.
In an effort to provide more precise and insightful weather forecasts and alerts for natural disasters, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS on Saturday evening aboard the spacecraft GSLV F14. According to a release 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.
This mission, which is a significant step forward in India's space advancements, is the 16th space mission for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and aims to deploy the INSAT-3DS satellite into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The mission is fully funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
As it launches the INSAT-3DS meteorological satellite into space, the GSLV F14 spacecraft will be going on its sixteenth mission. Nevertheless, a former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has dubbed the spacecraft the "naughty boy" of the Indian space programme because it has a forty percent failure rate and has encountered several delivery problems during its fifteen space missions to date.
The ISRO states that the goal of Saturday's mission, GSLV-F14/INSAT-3DS, is to continue providing services to the currently in operation INSAT-3D (launched in 2013) and INSAT-3DR (September 2016), for improved meteorological observations, surface monitoring of land and ocean for weather forecasting and disaster warning, and provision of satellite-assisted research and rescue (SAR) services, among other things.