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The 102nd space mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was a grand success. It was yet another ‘flawless’ launch on an auspicious full-moon day, giving a major boost to ISRO’s plans of another nine launches this year, including one to Mars. To thunderous applause from the assembled gathering, the PSLV C-20 blasted off at 6.01 pm from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota carrying the satellites. The launch was also witnessed by President Pranab Mukherjee from the mission control room along with Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Delay
The launch was delayed by five minutes due to the presence of space debris in the flight path. ISRO’s trusted workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), launched the Indo-French satellite Saral along with six commercial payloads from Austria, Britain, Canada and Denmark into a 785-km polar sun-synchronous orbit.
Within seconds, the rocket roared into the dark blue sky leaving behind thick orange-coloured smoke. The rocket followed its exact flight sequence, with separation of the propulsion and satellite at various stages. As the rocket went into the space, a bright full moon popped up to give a visual treat to hundreds of mediapersons assembled on the terrace of the media centre, 5 km from the launch pad.
It was the 23rd mission of PSLV, which has an impeccable record of 21 consecutive successful flights. This is the ninth time ISRO is using the ‘core alone’ variant of the rocket.
Congratulating ISRO for successfully executing this mission, President Mukherjee said that PSLV had become a household name in the country and this mission would only reaffirm this position through its efficacy, accuracy and reliability of this launch vehicle. The entire nation, he said, is eagerly looking forward to the successful flight of the Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
GSLV launch
The planned experimental mission of GSLV Mark 3 is a huge step forward in the development of heavy-lift space-transport system in the country.
“Our Chandrayaan-1 mission made the country proud. I am also confident of the first Indian inter-planetary venture, The Mars Orbiter Mission, targeted for this year, to be successful and to place India into the ranks of the few nations that have attempted such a feat,” he said.
PSLV-C20 is a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous polar orbit mission carrying Saral (Satellite with ARgos and Altika), an ISRO and French space agency CNES joint venture, as the primary satellite and six auxiliary satellites.
The Saral mission results from the common interest of both ISRO and CNES in studying the ocean from space. For instance, it can provide information on seasonal forecasting, study on animal migration, locating ‘buoys’ and fishing vessels, collecting environmental data such as ocean temperature profiles and currents.
Besides Saral, the PSLV-C20 has put into orbit two micro-satellites UniBRITE and BRITE (both from Austria), AAUSAT3 from Denmark and STRaND from UK. It also carried one micro-satellite (NEOSSat) and one mini-satellite (SAPPHIRE) from Canada.
With a lift-off mass of 407 kg, Saral is the 56th satellite to be launched by PSLV. The six commercial payloads from abroad together have a lift-off mass of 259.5 km. PSLV-C20 is the ninth PSLV in ‘core alone’ configuration (without solid strap-on motors).
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