ISRO Ahmedabad campus fire doused, no casualty reported

A minor fire broke out at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) campus in Ahmedabad, an official said on Friday. The fire broke out in a storeroom in ISRO's Space Application Centre, the official added. Chief Fire Officer MF Dastur said the fire was brought under control in an hour, adding that five fire tenders were deployed for the operation, but only one was used. "The fire started in a store room in the SAC campus Friday morning. Only some old books got burnt in the incident. The fire was brought under control within one hour," he said.

Recently, ISRO had successfully launched an advanced communication satellite at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director S Somanath said. "There is always (scope of) further improvements in GSLV and in the coming GSLV-F10s and F12 missions, we are going to make bigger payload compartment to accommodate still bigger spacecrafts and that is another important challenge in front of us," he had said after the launch.

He had said the scientists were ready for that change and also to make sure that the GSLV continues to remain very successful and "rugged" vehicle like ISRO's trusted workhorse, the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). ISRO's GSLV-F11, carrying the 2,250kg GSAT-7A, lifted off at 4.10 pm Wednesday from the second launch pad at Sriharikota, situated about 110 km from Chennai, and placed the communication satellite into its intended orbit about 19 minutes after lift-off.

Earlier, referring to the salient features of the GSLV-F11 launch, Somanath said the vehicle was an improved version where scientists brought changes in the cryogenic stage as well as second stage to improve payload capability. "This resulted in a lot of engineering changes and new elements. The (GSLV) vehicle itself is 1.5 metres longer than the previous GSLVs and it calls for understanding aerodynamics, hardware design and control systems," he said. He congratulated the ISRO team for "meticulously" undertaking all the new changes and making a successful launch. "This is sixth consecutive success of the GSLV. It only shows that this vehicle is going to stay longer and to make more missions in the years to come with improved capability," he said.