The first flight of India‘s Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) was aborted during lift-off at 3:47 PM today after one of its four engines failed to ignite properly, leading to an automatic shutdown of the rocket. The GSLV was to carry the G-Sat 1 communications satellite into orbit.

For the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which was behind the project (and way behind schedule as well), it is back to the drawing board to figure out what could have gone wrong.

The GSLV has been designed to launch 2.5 tonne class of communication satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO-22,000 miles high) for about $70-80 million per launch.

GSLV is a three stage vehicle, 49m tall. The first stage, GS1, comprises a solid propellant motor (S125) and four liquid propellant strap-on stages(L40). The second stage (GS2) is powered by a single liquid propellant engine (L37.5). The third stage (GS3) is a cryogenic stage (C12) with re-startable engines.

MediaCom, the independent media division of Grey Worldwide, has recently released the third edition of the MediaCom Ready Reckoner, a nationally compiled database.

The MediaCom Ready Reckoner is a handy pocket-sized database on media related and other general broad based information on India - demographics, population, audience size, ownership and penetration of various product categories and also availability, usage and costs of various media. The information has been collected from various recognised sources.

Speaking about the advantages of such a data collection, Harish Shriyan, senior vice-president MediaCom says: "The advantage of the MediaCom Ready Reckoner lies not just in the information that it carries but also in its presentation as the facts are data concised and highly indexed and can be viewed at a glance."

MediaCom is an independent media division of Grey Worldwide, headquartered in New York. In India it is a full service media operation wherein both media planning/strategic media development and cost effective media buying are offered as an integrated function.