Open Forum

New Delhi, 1 May 2008

PSLV Mission

RECORD LAUNCH FOR INDIA

By Radhakrishna Rao

For India it was a red letter day. And for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a memorable mission that created a record in the chronicles of space exploration. The 230-tonne, four-stage Indian space work horse PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) in its core alone version successfully orbited as many as 10 satellites in one go on the sunny morning of April 28.

It did so without the usual six strap-on boosters strung around the first stage and after an impressive and smooth blast off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota Island on the eastern coast. Never before has an Indian launch vehicle performed such a remarkable feat. This 13^th consecutive flight of PSLV, featuring alternate liquid and solid fuel driven stages by deploying the satellite payloads weighing 824-kg, proved its “versatility, reliability and flexibility”.

By all means, this PSLV mission was as much challenging as it was complicated. For each of the satellite was required to be deployed in orbit in a sequential manner with clockwork precision to obviate the possibility of collision. As an Indian space expert pointed out the challenge of this mission was that the fourth and final stage of the vehicle had to re-orient the satellites to ensure their smooth delivery into the required orbit.

Moments after the launch, a visibly jubilant ISRO Chairman G.Madhavan Nair said: “This is a memorable occasion for ISRO and India. We have set a new record by launching 10 satellites in one go, using a single launch vehicle. Very few countries have done it. Russia launched 13 satellites at a time. We do not know the result. We have, however, shown the world that we can do multiple launches in a precise manner.”

Of course, this is not for the first time that PSLV has accomplished multiple launches. On three earlier occasions it had pulled off multiple launches involving satellites of foreign customers. Similarly, this is for the third time that the core alone version of the launch vehicle has been pressed into service. The PSLV in its full configuration with six strap-on motors attached to the first stage weighs around 295-tonne It’s a good experience to launch so many satellites because it was quite an involved and complex task, according to Dr.B.N.Suresh, former director, Thiruvananthapuram-based Vikram Sarbahai Space Centre (VSSC), the largest Indian space establishment responsible for designing and developing launch vehicles.

While the fully Indian-built advanced earth observation satellites  Cartosat-2A weighing 690-kg constituted the main payload of the PSLV mission, the other Indian remote sensing satellite IMS 1 weighing 83–kg along with eight nano satellites from foreign universities constituted the other passengers onboard  PSLV. In all they weighed 823-kg and it took around 15 minutes for the PSLV to place them into the orbit.

The data being made available by Cartosat-2A, a follow-up to Cartosat-2 mapping satellite launched earlier will have applications both in the civilian and defence sectors. In fact, though the defence establishment has evinced keen interest in the potentials of Cartosat-2A, ISRO has described the satellite as a purely civilian one. The satellite featuring a panchromatic camera with a resolution of better than one metre was built at ISRO’s   Bangalore-based Satellite Centre. ISRO says that high resolution Cartosat-2A data will be valuable in planning urban infrastructure, rural roads, ring roads and human settlements.

According to ISRO, the “highly agile Cartosat-2A is steerable along as well as across the direction of its movement.” As a follow up to this, ISRO is planning to develop an earth observation satellite systems featuring an imaging system having a resolution of around 30-cm.

On the other hand, IMS-1 earlier known as Third World Satellite (TWSAT) incorporates many new technologies and miniaturised systems for natural resources study with a focus on water and vegetation. The distinct feature of IMS-1 is that it carries a hyper-spectral camera operating in both the visible and near-infrared regions of the electro magnetic spectrum. Interestingly, IMS will serve as a trial platform to hyper spectral camera which will also be used in India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 slated for launch this July. Chandrayaan-1 is getting ready for launch by means of an augmented version of PSLV.

“The data from IMS-1 will be made available to interested space agencies and student community from developing countries” said a ISRO statement. The IMS-1 is envisaged as a space platform for a series of low-weight and low-cost satellites for a variety of missions, including remote sensing and space science studies. It was designed and developed by the ISRO Satellite Centre.

The eight nano satellites that were launched by PSLV formed a part of the contract with Antrix Corp, Bangalore-based commercial arm of the space programme. These mini satellites, meant to demonstrate the efficacy of small satellite technology for a variety of end uses, were built by the universities in Canada, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Six of these satellites were bundled together under the collective name of NLS-4. Along with two other satellites NLS-5 and RUBIN-8, they weighted 50 kgs.

The launch of eight nano satellites has brought Antrix Corp a modest fee of US $ 0.6-million. This PSLV mission has buoyed up the spirits of Antrix, which has been on the look out to expand its market for launching small and medium class satellites. Its Executive Director K.R. Sridhara Murthy has said that discussions are already on with a couple of players for more commercial launches which would take place this year. “Countries around the world are looking for low launch cost options and this is where we come in,” he added. Murthy also revealed that a mini satellite from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and a set of Cubesats from Netherlands would be launched as piggyback payloads onboard PSLV.

Murthy couldn’t have summed up better: Not only is the PSLV a reliable and cost-effective launch vehicle, it has got a good brand value. It has flexibility. It can launch nano, mini and big satellites. It is versatile. It can launch satellites into any type of orbit that our customers want. All these attract customers.

Meanwhile, in about seven years from now, India will be able to send two of its astronauts into space onboard the three-stage Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). For the past four years, ISRO has been conducting studies on sending a manned capsule into orbit and the Government has sanctioned around Rs.950-million for doing the initial studies on it. In about six months the project might get its final approval. Let us wait and watch. --INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)