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India has launched 239 foreign satellites of 28 nations so far, as it marches on with improvements in launch of vehicle technology and position itself in the commercial business space.
The launch of two satellites of the United Kingdom — NovaSAR and S1-4 from Sriharikota Space Port on Sunday night by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) through the trusted PSLV demonstrated a technology upgrade.
It was not just a unique and first night flight launch, but the 44th flight of PSLV again proved the ability to put into orbit smaller payload using the Core Alone version. “It is the 12th flight of the Core Alone version of the vehicle, which is lighter without the six strap-on motors,” said a release from ISRO.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C42) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota at 10.08 pm (IST). Both satellites were injected into the Sun Synchronous Orbit, about 17 minutes later, at an altitude of 583 km.
The satellites belong to the UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), which has a contract with Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO.
NovaSAR carries S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and an Automatic Identification Receiver payloads. The satellite applications include forestry mapping, land use and ice cover monitoring, flood and disaster monitoring and maritime missions. It will be operated from SSTL’s Spacecraft Operations Centre in Guildford, UK, the release said.
On the other hand, S1-4 is a high resolution earth observation satellite meant for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and disaster monitoring.
During the previous launch (PSLV-C41, April 12, 2018), the ‘XL’ version of PSLV with six strap-on motors was used. The vehicle successfully launched the IRNSS-1I navigation satellite to a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
The ISRO Chairman, K Sivan, said: “I am extremely happy that the PSLV-C42 precisely launched two of our customer satellites at 583 km orbit. This was a unique night mission executed for the first time by us. PSLV has proven yet again as a user-friendly vehicle in all aspects. The credit goes to the entire ISRO team and industries.”
This success will give added energy for industries to make PSLV by themselves. ISRO will have 18 missions in the next six months, virtually one launch every two weeks, Sivan said.
“The PSLV-C42 marks the latest technology and commercial collaboration between India and the UK with the launch of the combination of high resolution optical and radar (SAR) satellites from us,” says Martin Sweeting, Group Executive Chairman, SSTL.
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