Launch of a heavy rocket with an Indian cryogenic engine to inject an advanced communication satellite in the geo-synchronous orbit is now just few steps away. The countdown began on March 14, 2010 at the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh. The spaceport is located on a small island off the Bay of Bengal, about 80 km north-east of Chennai.
The preparations during the 29-hour countdown includes filling up the second stage and four strap-ons of the 416-tonne rocket with about 200 tonnes of liquid propellants.The ground stations at Sriharikota, Biak in Indonesia and the master control facility at Hasan in Karnataka will be tested for their readiness by the space scientists and engineers simultaneously.
