The countdown for the launch of India’s first Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) carrying Earth observation satellites and student satellites has begun at 2:26 pm on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.
ISRO has embarked on a mission to put satellites weighing 500 kg into 500 km low earth orbit, as it targets a large segment of the demanding SSLV market.
“SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission: Countdown started at 02.26 hrs,” ISRO said on its website on Sunday.
The objective of SSLV is to place the satellites EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT in low earth orbit.
The lift-off of the rocket is scheduled at 9.18 am from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SHAR), about 135 km from Chennai. About 13 minutes after launch, the rocket is expected to place EOS-02 and AzadiSat into the desired orbit.
Unlike ISRO’s dependable workhorse – the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) – the SSLV can carry payloads of up to 500 kg and can deploy satellites into 500 km low Earth orbit.
It uses solid fuel – hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene – to fire the first three stages that raise the payload to the desired altitude. The fourth stage consists of a Liquid Propulsion Based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) for placing the satellites into orbit.
The main payloads on the 34-metre-tall rocket are the Earth Observation-02 satellite and the co-passenger satellite AzadiSat, an 8-kg CubeSat designed by girl students from government schools across the country to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
The Earth observation satellite designed by ISRO provides advanced optical remote sensing operating in the infra-red band with high spatial resolution. EOS-02 belongs to the microsatellite series of spacecraft.
The objective of EOS-02 is to provide inputs on thermal anomalies for ancillary applications in the fields of geo-environmental studies, forestry, hydrology, agriculture, soil and coastal studies.
Azadisat carries 75 different payloads, each weighing around 50 grams. ISRO said girl students from rural areas across the country were provided guidance to build these payloads, which are integrated by the student team of ‘Space Kids India’.
ground system developed by Space Kids India will be used to receive data from this satellite.
ISRO’s Sunday mission is the third this year after the successful PSLV-C53 mission on June 30, a dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited.
On 14 February, ISRO successfully placed the Earth observation satellite EOS-04 on its reliable workhorse PSLV-C52/EOS-04 mission.
The radar imaging satellite was designed to provide high quality images in all weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry and plantation. space kids
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