Preparations for launching the satellite are going on well, IANS quoted G. Madhavan Nair, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman as saying.

The Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) that will carry the 2000 kg Edusat was being readied at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state in southeast India, Nair told reporters in Bangalore in south India.

"We have integrated the second stage of the GSLV and the cryogenic stage will be completed by this month-end," Nair disclosed on the sidelines of a function at the ISRO headquarters.

Code-named GSLV-Flight-01, the launch will be a milestone for the ISRO, which will be using the 400-tonne GSLV vehicle as an operational flight for the first time to deploy a satellite in thegeo-synchronous orbit, 36,000 km above earth.

The three-stage launch vehicle has been indigenously built at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state in south India.

Its cryogenic engine, powered by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, isimported from Russia.

The first two GSLV launches that were carried out in April 2001and May 2003 were developmental flights.

"The dedicated satellite will become operational in three months after it is deployed in the geo-orbit and we hope the firstphase of the program will be implemented before the end of the current fiscal (2004-05)," Nair said.

The exclusive satellite project will be utilized to demonstratethe concept of "multicasting" interactive multimedia for the educational sector.

The satellite will beam educational programs across the nation,especially to the rural, remote and hilly areas.

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