New Delhi: Ahead of India's plans for its first flight of the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) powered by a home-made cryogenic engine next year, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on March 12 said the country has been successful in acquiring the engine technology.

"We have very close co-operation with Russia in the field of space. When we had problems procuring cryogenic engines we contacted Russia and it was ready to help us."

"But we have been telling our scientists that you should work on making cryogenic engines. I am happy to inform the House that we have been successful in making cryogenic engines," he said in a brief intervention during the Question Hour.

India's homemade cryogenic rocket engine that is under development since 1993 crossed a major milestone in September 2002 with the successful ground test-firing for duration of 1,000 seconds more than what is required during the actual flight.

Replying to supplementaries, Minister of State for Planning, Statistics and Space Satyabrata Mukherjee said a proposal has been submitted to Thailand by Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for design, development and launching of a remote sensing satellite.

PTI