PSLV-C16 successfully launches 3 satellites

Congratulations …… ISRO 

ISRO proved its mettle again by successfully launching PSLV-C16 rocket on 20^th April 20, 2011 at 10.18 AM. PSLV-C16 successfully puts 3 satellites Remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 and two smaller satellites YOUTHSAT and X-SAT in their respective orbits. The entire launch was completed within the duration 18 minutes.   

This is 18^th successful rocket launch with PSLV. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is most reliable and cost effective launch vehicle in the world. PSLV is a synonym for success. 

PSLV is 44 metres tall with a lift off weight of 295 tonne and designed to launch 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit and 1050 kg satellite into geo-synchronous transfer orbit. PSLV is one the most versatile vehicle for launching multiple satellites in polar SSOs, Low Earth Orbits and geosynchronous transfer orbit.  PSLV launch vehicle has 4 stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately.

I’m wishing all the iSRO scientists for the successful launch of PSLV-C16.

Jai Ho Bharat 

Jai ISRO……….Sky is the limit …….

ISRO to launch Singapore's first satellite

ISRO is going to launch Singapore's first satellite X-Sat in orbit February 2011. The launch of the satellite, dubbed X-Sat, has been delayed since 2007.  Experts estimated that the delay has raised the cost of satellite four-fold to more than 40 million Singaporean dollar from earlier estimates of 10 million, according to a report in The Straits Times today.

The X-Sat will be launched on Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which has made 17 launches since its maiden flight in 1993, and have successfully put 38 satellites into the space out of the 40.

The X-Sat, a refrigerator-sized micro-satellite, would be in orbit for three years at a height of 800 km. It would take photographs to measures soil erosion and environmental changes on Earth, then relay them to a ground station at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said: “the PSLV was in the assembling stage. We will be doing the flight testing stage later in January, and are expecting it to be launched in the first week of February," he was quoted as saying in recent media reports.  The 100-kg X-Sat would be one of the three riding on the PSLV rocket

The X-Sat would make Singapore one of the first Southeast Asian countries to have locally-built satellite in space. The satellite is built by NTU, one of Singapore's top universities and research and development centers.

CARTOSAT-2B Sending High Quality images

India's advanced remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2B satellite, which was successfully launched by PSLV-C15 on July 12, 2010, into a polar sun-synchronous orbit, is working adequately.  The initial phase of operations of the satellite has been successfully completed. The camera has been switched on, and it is sending high quality images.

ISRO sends satellites for foreign space agencies

ISRO is getting huge orders from other countries to launch their satellites. For every one kilogram of third party payload that ISRO launches into orbit, the space agency earns an approximate $20,000. Last week too when its polar satellite launch vehicle an Algerian satellite into space orbit, it fetched a neat $4 million, besides more than half a dozen fresh orders. But then, there has never been any dearth of orders. The ISRO’s pipeline is already choked with orders worth Rs 3,000 crore.

“In case of space activity, execution of an order depends on a number of issues, from time schedule and skilled manpower,” says ISRO’s marketing arm’s head K Sridhara Murthi. “The launch services also involve provision of available spare capacity in our vehicles.”

The PSLV, often referred to as ISRO’s workhorse, is the most attractive launch vehicle for the global market because it has the capability to launch multiple satellites. Improved features over the years have not only increased the payload capacity but also acquired an ability to launch different size of satellites into various types of orbits. This flexibility with respect to various payloads and the regular turnaround for annual launch has worked to the agency’s benefit. “We are able to compete with any vehicle in the world in PSLV category,” says Mr Murthi. “But our own vehicles are the priority. Whatever capacity is available after meeting the requirements of our payloads, we offer it to global bodies. Of late, we are getting proposals for dedicated launches from other agencies.”

On the other hand, ISRO is going to launch Jugnu, the 3.5-kg satellite developed by the teachers and students of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, into a polar orbit sometime in September or October 10.

ISRO’s PSLV Successfully Launches Five Satellites

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on 12^th July, 10 Monday fruitfully placed 5 satellites, the remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and four other satellites into orbit.

At the end of an over 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 metre-tall four-stage PSLV-C-15, costing Rs 260 crore, blasted off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with ignition of the core first stage and placed the satellites in orbit one after the other.

Visibly relieved scientists, headed by ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, cheered as ISRO's workhorse PSLV soared into clear skies at 9.22am from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai.

The PSLV launch assumes significance as it comes about three months after ISRO suffered a major setback on April 15 when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), which was launched using an Indian-designed and built cryogenic engine for the first time, failed and fell into the Bay of Bengal.

Cartosat-2B is an advanced remote sensing satellite built by ISRO. This is the latest in the Indian remote sensing satellite series and the 17th in this series. Cartosat-2B is mainly intended to augment remote sensing data services to the users of multiple spot scene imagery with 0.8 metre spatial resolution and 9.6 km swath in the panchromatic. Cartosat-2 and 2A, two Indian remote sensing satellites in orbit, are currently providing such services.

A set of four satellites including Studsat built by students of seven engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico (very small) satellite called Oceansat 2 accompanied Cartosat 2 on its trip to orbit.