2014: A Year Of Technological Advancement For India In Space
CHENNAI: The year 2014 could be easily said as the rocking rocketing year for India - only not for the number of rockets/satellites launched - but also on the technological front.
The Indian space agency showed the maturing of its expertise in different spheres of space technology - inter-planetary journeys, flight testing of the critical cryogenic engine, testing its heaviest rocket for its stability during the flight and taking baby steps towards space missions by humans.
"It was was an excellent year on the technological and other fronts. The year started with the successful launch of the GSLV (geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle) rocket powered by indigenously developed cryogenic engine. We also launched two navigational satellites. We also inserted the Mars Orbiter in the Martian orbit. We also flight tested India's heaviest GSLV Mark III rocket with a crew module," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan told IANS.
The GSLV-Mark III rocket did not have the cryogenic engine to put a satellite in orbit. As the rocket's other engines were ready, ISRO decided to test the rocket with the crew module weighing around four tonnes - the targeted carrying capacity of a full fledged GSLV-Mark III rocket.
The 
155 crore ($24 million) space mission had twin purposes, the main being to test the rocket's atmospheric flight stability with an around four tonne package.
The second was to study the re-entry characteristics of the crew module - called Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment - its aero-braking and validation of its end-to-end parachute system.
The experiment is part of India's plans for a manned mission at a future date. The module did not carry any living being.
The 630-tonne rocket went up to 126 km. The crew capsule got detached and fell into the Bay of Bengal, 20 minutes after the blast-off.
The descent speed of the crew module was controlled by three parachutes.
The crew module looks like a giant cupcake - black on top and brown at the bottom. According to an ISRO official, it is the size of a small bedroom and can accommodate 2-3 people.
Queried whether ISRO was dispersing its resources looking at a human space mission when the focus should be on developing GSLV rockets to carry heavy communication satellites Radhakrishnan said: "ISROs projects are not mutually exclusive.The cryogenic engine for the heavy rocket is under development and will take two years for the rocket to be flight ready."
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