July 10, 2006
 

There's no link between Agni-III and the GSLV

I've just been watching TV coverage of the failure of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle mission carrying the INSAT-4C satellite.

For some bizarre reason, NDTV and CNN-IBN kept mentioning yesterday's failed test of the Agni-III missile and the GSLV failure in the same breath and spoke about how two failures in two days would significantly impact India.

Yes, two high profile failures in two days hardly makes for good news. But let's get one thing straight - The GSLV is part of the Indian space research establishment's attempt to launch satellites for weather maps, communication and television rather than do the launches using another country's launch vehicles. On the other hand, the Agni missile system is the Indian defence establishment's IRBM (Inter-mediate Range Ballistic Missile), having the ability to carry conventional and nuclear warheads. Agni-3 was built to have a range of 3500 km.

The INSAT is a civilian programme, while the Agni is a military programme. The only thing common to them is that they're both launched through rockets.

Think of it as the separation between civilian and military reactors plants committed under the nuclear deal with the United States of America.

Rambled @ 9:00 PM

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2 comment(s)

Our space program works closely with our military missile technology. For example, Agni varients are derived from PSLV and GSLV varients.

http://www.blonnet.com/2002/11/15/stories/2002111500700900.htm

-Hari

By  Anonymous (Jul 11, 2006, 7:18:00 AM)  

Though the statement may be true, its actually the other way around. Our Defense Projects works closely with space/nuclear(civilian) agencies.

As we all know the The 1st Agni was actually a stacked up version of prithivi on top of a 1st stage of PSLV.
Besides, this AGNI-2 or Surya-1 is a remarkably new project and has many subsystems tried on for the 1st time., and for the record..
Both the US and the erstwhile USSR atleast had some 10-15 crashes/ year in the peak of Missile/Space race and for the folks out there i would like to make it clear that in hi-tech projects like GSLV or AGNI-3 not everything could be "Simulated" and it requires getting the hand real dirty to get the work done...

By  RedKnight (Jul 21, 2006, 10:01:00 AM)  

I'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. Obviously comments containing offensive and unsuitable language will be deleted. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own blog, especially if it discusses issues you find here.