ISRO’s Naughty Boy rocket will launch India’s latest weather satellite INSAT-3DS today

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is preparing to launch its weather satellite INSAT-3DS aboard the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) F14, nicknamed “Naughty Boy” for its erratic record.

The GSLV-F14 rocket will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota at 5.35 pm on Saturday, the space agency said, adding that it had started the launch countdown on Thursday. This will be the rocket’s 16th mission and the 10th flight using an Indian-made cryogenic engine.

The success of this mission is crucial for GSLV, which is scheduled to fly on board NISAR, an Earth observation satellite jointly developed by NASA and ISRO later this year.

According to the Indian Express, at least four of the 15 launches using GSLV have been unsuccessful so far. In comparison, ISRO’s workhorse PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) has failed only three times in 60 missions so far, while its successor LVM-3 has failed in none of its seven missions.

GSLV is a three-stage rocket with a length of 51.7 meters, about a quarter of the length of the Statue of Unification, which is 182 meters high and has a take-off mass of 420 tons. ISRO plans to decommission it after a few launches.

This weather satellite is important to the country as it will help promote weather and climate monitoring services in India. Known as INSAT-3DS, it is a third-generation upgraded dedicated weather satellite. The satellite weighs 2,274 kg and was built at a cost of approximately Rs 480 crore. ISRO said the project is fully funded by the Department of Earth Sciences.