Bangalore: The heavier Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III rocket being built by the Indian Space Research Organisation for launch by 2008 could be used to send a man to space, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said today (July 9, 2004).

He, however, clarified that India had no plans now for a manned space mission because of its high costs.

"The GSLV Mk III can launch a 10 tonne satellite into the low earth orbit which can be used to put a man on space. Though we do not have any plan for a manned mission to space, at a later date this will be handy," Nair said in his speech on "Challenges in Launch Vehicle Technology" this evening at the lecture series by the Bangalore Science Forum.

"We know that 10 tonnes is half the size of an avro aircraft. We can definitely build a habitable module around that and that at the same time we have not embarked on a programme now...it is prohibitively expensive", he said.

"..if there is a decision at the national level that we have to make a manned mission, it (GSLV Mk III) can be handy," Nair said.

ISRO, Nair said, will conduct a Space capsule recovery experiment (SRE) next year when a 500 kg capsule launched by a rocket would re-enter the earth after conducting micro gravity experiments in space. It would also provide crucial inputs for sending a man to moon.

"Yes, naturally," he said, asked whether the SRE was another stepping stone for a manned mission.

"Because re-entry, that is one of the challenging issues for a manned mission," Nair said, adding that India's SRE project was more sophisticated than the Russian programme.

He said ISRO was working on air breathing engine technology and was also building a technology demonstrator for a reusable launch vehicle it aims to fly in 2015. India has begun work on an unmanned mission to the moon in 2008, the same year GSLV MkIII is slated to be launched, and will use its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for the moon trip.

Nair said ISRO aims to make GSLV as its workhorse in future and offer it for launching foreign satellites at half the existing launch costs of the existing players in the international market.

The GSLV MkIII can hurl the heavier four tonne class communication satellites into the 36,000 km Geostationary Transit Orbit (GTO).