ISRO successfully places seven Singaporean satellites into intended orbit

Pic/PTI

ISRO on Sunday successfully launched its proven PSLV rocket carrying seven Singaporean satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here and placed them into intended orbits. Around 23 minutes after lift-off, the primary satellite got separated and it was followed by six other co-passenger satellites, which were deployed into the intended orbits sequentially, ISRO said. On the successful launch and separation of the satellites, ISRO posted on Twitter, "PSLV-C56/DS-SAR Mission:

The mission is successfully accomplished. PSLV-C56 vehicle launched all seven satellites precisely into their intended orbits. Thanks to @NSIL_India and Singapore, for the contract." This ISRO mission, which comes after the much-awaited Chandrayaan-3 launch earlier this month, is being undertaken by its commercial arm NewSpace India Limited.

In today's dedicated commercial mission, the primary payload being carried by ISRO's trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is the DS-SAR Radar Imaging Earth Observation satellite, which has been developed under a partnership between DSTA (representing the Government of Singapore) and ST Engineering, Singapore.

The 360-kg satellite, upon deployment at an altitude of 535 km into a Near-equatorial Orbit (NEO), would be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore. ST Engineering would use the satellite for multi-modal and higher responsiveness imagery and geospatial services for their commercial customers.

The satellite carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. The payload allows DS-SAR to provide for all-weather day-and-night coverage and it is capable of imaging at 1-metre resolution. After the 25 hour countdown that commenced on Saturday concluded, the 44.4 metre tall rocket lifted off majestically from the first launch pad at this spaceport, at the prefixed time of 6.31 am, emanating thick fumes on its tail. Sriharikota is located about 135 km from Chennai on the eastern coast.

The co-passenger satellites are 1. VELOX-AM,a 23 kg technology demonstration microsatellite, 2. ARCADE Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Explorer (ARCADE), an experimental satellite, 3. SCOOB-II, a 3U nanosatellite flying a technology demonstrator payload, 4. NULloN by NuSpace, an advanced 3U nanosatellite enabling seamless Internet of Things connectivity in both urban and remote locations, 5. Galassia-2, a 3U nanosatellite that would be orbiting at low earth orbit and 6. ORB-12 STRIDER, a satellite developed under an international collaboration, the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said.

Today's mission is the 58th flight of PSLV and using the 17th vehicle with Core Alone Configuration. According to the space agency, a Core Alone version of the rocket means the vehicle would not use solid strap-on motors on its sides in the first stage as compared to other variants like PSLV-XL, QL, and DL which use six, four or two boosters, respectively.

PSLV has earned its title as the 'Workhorse of ISRO' through consistently delivering various satellites into low earth orbits, ISRO said. This is the second campaign to be undertaken by ISRO after the much awaited Chandrayaan-3 mission which was launched on July 14 from the second launch pad, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, here.

Currently, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is undergoing orbit raising manoeuvres. On July 25, ISRO scientists successfully performed the fifth orbit-raising manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft setting the stage for the planned August 1 journey towards the Moon after leaving the orbit of the Earth. Today's mission follows PSLV-C55/TeLEOS-2 mission which was successfully launched in April to serve the customers in Singapore.

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