India joins the 'cryo club'

[gg_got_a_tesla]

GSLV GSAT-14 Launch Updates - SPACEFLIGHT101

With this, India has joined the "cryo club", a select group of spacefaring nations having the crucial cryogenic engine technology that's necessary to carry heavy satellites. Countries with such a capability are the US, Russia, France, Japan and China.

Not sure if India will place the GSLV-D5 in service for commercial launches outside of its own geostationary satellite launch needs but, it does have the potential to undercut the launch costs with Arianespace and, in the future, SpaceX.

 

[claytorj]

Impressive launch after 2.5 years of not flying.

GSLV GSAT-14 Launch Updates - SPACEFLIGHT101Not sure if India will place the GSLV-D5 in service for commercial launches outside of its own geostationary satellite launch needs but, it does have the potential to undercut the launch costs with Arianespace and, in the future, SpaceX.

Lots of information on the link you provided, but didn't find anything to indicate cost per launch. Are you just speculating, or do you have a source?

Thanks.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Found this:

India to soon look for contracts to launch heavy satellites: K Radhakrishnan, ISRO chief - The Economic Times

India was previously doing commercial LEO satellite launches with its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

 

[claytorj]

Great, thanks for that. According to that article, this launch vehicle for India costs approx. $35 mil USD (Rs.220 crore) and can launch a satellite payload up to 2 tonnes. I don't know what market share of satellites that fit this spec are.

From the article:

According to Radhakrishnan, there are niche satellites weighing around two tonnes.

For weight comparison, the Thaicom 6 Satellite that SpaceX is attempting to launch today weighs 3.3 tonnes, and the SES-8 Satellite that SpaceX launched on Dec. 3, 2013 weighed 3.1 tonnes.