Sriharikota, Nov 29 (UNI) Indian Space Research Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C43) on Thursday successfully launched the nation's Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite into the 645 km sun-synchronous polar orbit, 17 minutes and 19 seconds after the lift-off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here.
The PSLV lifted off majestically from the First Launch Pad at the SHAR Range at 0958 hrs after a 28-hour countdown.
In its 13th flight of the Core Alone Variant, PSLV injected HysIS after a flight duration of 17 minutes, into a 636 km Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit with an inclination of 97.957 deg to the equator.
The Core Alone PSLV-C43 also injected into their intended orbit 30 foreign satellites from eight countries, including 23 from United States, after restarting the vehicle's fourth stage engines twice.
After separation, the two solar arrays of HysIS were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru took control of the satellite.
The satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration in the next few days.
ISRO crossed the 250-mark in respect of launching foreign satellites. It has till date launched 269 foreign satellites.This was the 43rd successful flight of PSLV in its 45th mission.
Briefing media, ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan said the team has achieved another spectacular mission 15 days after the successful GSLV-MkIII/GSAT-29 launch.
“Today once again we have proved our excellence,” he said.
He said HysIS was a state-of-the-art satellite with many indigenous components developed
by SAC, Ahmedabad and SCL, Chandigarh.
'Our customers are very happy that their satellites are precisely delivered into orbit', he said.
The road ahead
Dr Sivan said the ISRO was ready for the next launch of GSAT-11 on December 5 from French
Guiana and later GSLV-MkII will launch GSAT-7A from Sriharikota in another two weeks.
Mission Director R Hutton termed the launch as a grand and marvellous one with clockwork
precision. “We have used a lighter version of PSLV today. It has once again proven its
capabilities to launch multiple satellites into different orbits'.
'All our team members, their family members and industry partners have played a vital role,”
he said.
HysIS Project Director Suresh K said that the satellite is performing normally after the launch.
HysIS is an earth observation satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite-2 (IMS-2) bus weighing about 380kg. The mission life of the satellite is five years.
The primary goal of HysIS is to study the earth’s surface in both the visible, near infrared
and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Data from the satellite
will be used for a wide range of applications including agriculture, forestry, soil/geological
environments, coastal zones and inland waters, etc.
HysIS had the company of one micro and 29 nano-satellites from eight countries, including
Australia (1), Canada (1), Columbia (1), Finland (1), Malaysia (1), Netherlands (1), Spain (1)
and USA (23). The total weight of these satellites was about 261.50 kg.
Satellites from Australia, Columbia, Malaysia and Spain were flown aboard PSLV.
These foreign satellites were launched as part of commercial arrangements between
Antrix Corporation Limited and customers.
Mission successful
So far, the PSLV has launched 44 Indian and nine satellites built by students from Indian
universities. It has also launched 269 international customer satellites.
Dr Sivan said ISRO was planning to undertake 12 to 14 launch missions in the year 2019, which included the
second Lunar mission, Chandrayaan-II.
The nation, he said, now has 47 operational satellites that were active in their orbits, meant for
communications, earth observation, scientific studies and navigation applications, among others.
Speaking on the Gaganyaan, he said the process was going in the right direction.
'ISRO is planning to launch the first unmanned mission as a precursor to Gaganyaan by December 2020, followed by one more mission by July 2021', Dr Sivan said and added that ISRO plans to accomplish
the manned mission by 2021 December.
When asked why GSAT-11was being launched from French Guiana, Director, U R Rao Satellite Centre, P Kunhikrishnan said GSAT-11 weighs 5.86 tonnes and it could not carried by GSLVMk–III, which has
the capacity to lift only up to four-tonne class satellites.
'Though its capacity is being augmented gradually to carry much heavier satellites, the national space agency has to go in for launches from abroad to meet the current requirements', he added.
Affirming that HysIS was a state-of-the-art technology inbuilt satellite, Dr Sivan said the heart of the system required for HysIS basically was a optical imaging detector chip, which was indigenously developed
by ISRO's Space Application Centre and at its FAB in Chandigarh.
'On the journey ahead, the road is full of traffic for us', he added.
'Our next mission is the launch of 5,854 kg GSAT-11, which is
the heaviest satellite built by India, from Kourou in French Guiana on
December 5 at 0208 hrs using the Ariane-5 launch vehicle.'
Dr Sivan said GSAT-11 would be the next generation high throughput
communication satellite that would play a vital role in providing broadband
services across the country. It will also provide a platform to demonstrate
new generation applications.
He said there would be another long awaited mission in December
itself, the GSLV-F11 GSAT-7A launch, which would take place in 2/3 weeks
time.
'The preparations have already started and are on for the launch', he added.
This would be followed by the major mission Chandrayaan-2 in January which
would be followed by a series of launches.
There would also be another satellite from Kourou in French Guiana by the end
of January and the satellite integration activities have already begun.
Giant leap
About 74 seconds after the second restart, the separation sequence started with the first co-passenger satellite
being injected into the orbit.
Then other satellites were injected one by one at an interval of five to ten seconds, before the last one was placed in the orbit at 6,767 seconds--about 113 minutes after lift off.
The longest mission, PSLV-C40 in January this year, lasted two hours and 21 minutes when it placed 31 satellites to orbit.
In September 2016, PSLV-C35 launched eight satellites in a two hours and 15 minutes mission.
HYsIS employs Hyper Spectral Imager to take images in visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) and Short Wave
Infrared (SWIR) bands.
It was a Spectral Imaging Satellite to provide global coverage on repetitive basis to users and
supplementing the data from the existing multi spectral sensors.
'A wide range of applications in agriculture, forestry, geological environments, coastal zones
and inland waters, among others would be derived from the satellite, which would have a mission life
of five years. The primary goal of HysIS, built around ISRO's Mini Satellite-2 (IMS-2) bus, was to study the
earth’s surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic
spectrum.
This was 68th Launch Vehicle Mission from the SHAR Range, the 45th flight of the four-stage PSLV rocket, 34th launch from the First Launch Pad and a record sixth launch of the
year 2018 and second this month.
There were scenes of jubilation at the Mission Control Flight as the ISRO scientists, including Dr K Sivan,
greeted each other on the success of the HysIS satellite.
UNI Chennai reported that ISRO would make a giant leap in a record time in increasing the production of solid propellant boosters to power more launch vehicles and to carry satellites into the orbit.
Stating that the Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant (SPROB) at SHAR Range in Sriharikota was now carrying out a challenging task to deliver 12 S139 (PSLV first stage) motors by 2019 end, which was double the present capacity, ISRO said with meticulous planning and spirited efforts, 29 additional facilities were being set up with innovative technical aspects and fail-safe process automation.
With the commissioning of these facilities, the overall annual production capacity of the plant would make a giant leap within a record time, the sources said.
Milestone achieved
To mark the completion of 1,000th solid motor casting by (SPROB), a plaque was unveiled by Dr Sivan at the SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota on Wednesday, in which former SHAR Directors, former ISRO stalwarts, who have immensely contributed in establishment of SPROB, attended.
After a 28 hour countdown that started at 0558 hrs yesterday morning, the home grown rocket, in its 13th Mission of the PSLV Core Alone variant, took off majestically and roared into the clear skies, with a rumble that shook the earth.
The Indian National Congress congratulated ISRO on the launch of PSLVC43 carrying earth observation satellite HysIS and 30 other satellites from eight different countries.
In a post on social media, AICC media incharge Randeep Surjewala said, 'Congratulations to the superb team of scientists and space engineers at ISRO for the successful launch of PSLVC43 carrying earth observation satellite HysIS & 30 other satellites from 8 different countries!'
UNI Team-GV RP1955