ISRO gearing up for GSLV/GSAT-9 mission on May 5

The timing of the launch was expected to be announced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a day or two. This would be the first GSLV mission in eight months after the success of GSLV-F05, the first operational flight of GSLV powered by the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), when it launched the advanced weather satellite the 2,211 kg INSAT-3DR in the desired orbit on September eight last year.

ISRO sources said GSAT-9 is a Geostationary Communication Satellite being launched with the objective to provide various communication applications in Ku-band with coverage over South Asian countries. 

The 2,230 kg GSAT-9 was configured around the ISRO's standard I-2K bus. The main structure of the satellite is cuboid in shape built around a central cylinder with a mission life of more than 12 years.

GSLV-F09 mission would be the 11th flight of GSLV and its fourth consecutive flight with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS).

The success of the previous GSLV mission in September last year provided the much-needed boost for future GSLV missions to launch satellites weighing two to 2.2 tonnes using India's own cryogenic engine.

On that occasion, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar had said that with the third successive GSLV successful mission, GSLV had truly proved that it was the operational vehicle for ISRO, with the Make in India Cryogenic stage.

The success of GSLV-F05 also helped India join the five space faring nations--US, Russia, UK, China, Japan and France--in mastering the complex cryogenic stage. Prior to this, the previous two successive successful missions were in January 2014 and in August 2015 after which the Indian Space agency had announced that the GSLV has shed the developmental tag and it has got the operational tag.