By Venkatachari Jagannathan Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) 7 August : The first mission of India’s first rocket which is worth Rs 56 crore Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) on Sunday morning ended in an unfailure.
The failure of small rockets in propelling the two satellites out of their orbits is a major concern for the security of the India’s space human mission, which will be executed using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mk III (GSLV-Mk III) with the difficult cryogenic engine stage.
After the SSLV-D1 satellite launched with two satellites around 9.18 a.m.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the satellites are not usable since they were placed into an orbit that was not the one intended.
“All the stages functioned normally.Both satellites were injecting.However, the orbit reached was lower than anticipated, which makes the mission unstable.” ISRO said in an extremely brief statement on the mission.
“SSLV-D1 put the satellites in a 356 km x the 76 km elliptical orbit instead of 356 km circular orbit.which is the smallest point near to the surface of the earth,” ISRO Chairman S.Somanath said.
He stated that when satellites get placed in this orbit it is unlikely that they will stay there for long , and will be able to come down.
“The two satellites have fallen from their orbits and are no longer useful,” Somanath said.
In the future, a team of experts will examine the issue and figure out the reason it went into an unsuitable orbit.
After making the minor corrections and the revalidation of the corrections The ISRO will launch the next launch of SSLV-D2 in the near future Somanath added.
In the hope of celebrating in the lead of the country’s 75th year of Independence in fashion, the ISRO has launched its brand new rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle – Developmental Flight (SSLV-D1).
In its first flight of development that was conducted by the SSLV-D1, it was carrying an earth observation satellite 02 (EOS-02) which was previously called microsatellite-2.Its weight was about 145kg and the eight kilogram AZAADISAT constructed by students of 750 of government schools, which was facilitated by SpaceKidz India.
After 12 minutes of the launch of the rocket, ISRO announced the separation of EOS-02 and AZAADISAT.
Then a long silence was observed at the Mission Control Centre at the rocket port in this area with Somanath declaring “The SSLV-D1 mission is complete.
All phases of the rocket worked exactly as planned.There is a data loss in the final stage of the rocket.”
He stated that information is being collected to determine the state of the mission.
“The AZAADISAT got separated.
We are able to learn about it only at the night,” Dr.Srimathy Kesan the founder and CEO, SpaceKidz India told IANS.
At around 9.18 a.m.The rocket was able to break free of the launch pad here and soared into the cloudy sky.The rocket’s trajectory was smooth with all of its solid fuel powered engines operating well.
The three-staged SSLV-D1 is powered by solid fuel (total 99.2 ton) and also comes with an acceleration trimming module (VTM) powered by 0.05 ton of liquid fuel to ensure precisely injected of satellites.
The latest Indian rocket was 34 meters tall and weighed 120 tonnes.
According to the flight schedule at just under 12 minutes into the flight, the SSLV-D1 was scheduled to launch into space EOS-2, and then the AZAADISAT within a couple of seconds.But, it did not happen as planned.
According to ISRO SSLV is a ready-to- transfer rocket with modular and unifying system with standard interfaces for manufacturing for the market.
The SSLV design drivers have a low-cost and have a short turnaround times, flexible in accepting multiple satellites, launch-on-demand capability and minimal requirements for launch infrastructure and more, ISRO said.
The commercial part of ISRO, NewSpace India Ltd planned to transfer SSLV technology to production in the private sector following two or three of successfully completed missions.
The Indian space agency has said that the EOS-02 satellite was an experimental optical imaging satellite with high spatial resolution.The goal is to build and launch an imaging satellite that is experimental with quick turnaround times and demonstrate the capability to launch on demand.
The launch of small satellites could be an important aspect in the global space industry with around 7,000 satellites expected to be in the sky in 2027.V.K.Saraswat the member of Niti Aayog, said at a space conference.
In all, around 7700 small satellites are anticipated to launch between the years 2018 between 2027 and 2027 with an estimated cost of $38 billion Saraswat said.
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at [email protected])
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