ISRO to mate cryogenic engine with its rocket Friday

The Indian space agency will be mating its own cryogenic engine with its heavy rocket - the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) - Friday afternoon at its spaceport in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, said officials.

"The process of fixing our cryogenic engine with GSLV will begin tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. Then various tests will be carried out before the satellite is fixed with the rocket," an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan had announced that GSLV rocket powered by India's own cryogenic engine carrying communication satellite GSat-14 will be launched Aug 6.

This will be the first mission of GSLV during the last three years after two such rockets failed in 2010.

One of the GSLV rockets flew with Indian cryogenic engine and the other one with a Russian engine.

The GSLV is a three stage/engine rocket. The first stage is fired with solid fuel, the second is the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine.