PSLV-C7 Successfully Launched

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C7, successfully launched four satellites -- India’s CARTOSAT-2 and Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), Indonesia’s LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina’s PEHUENSAT-1 into a 635 km high polar orbit. For the first time, a Dual Launch Adopter (DLA) was used in PSLV to accommodate two primary satellites in tandem.

After the final count down, PSLV-C7 lifted off from the first launch pad at SDSC SHAR, at 9.23 am with the ignition of the core first stage and four of the six strap-on motors.

The four satellites have been placed in a polar orbit at an altitude of 637 km with an inclination of 97.9 deg with respect to the equator.

CARTOSAT-2, the twelfth in the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series, is an advanced remote sensing satellite capable of providing scene-specific spot imagery. It will join the other six IRS satellites which are in service -- IRS-1C, IRS-1D, OCEANSAT-1, Technology Experimental Satellite (TES), RESOURCESAT-1 and CARTOSAT-1. It carries a Panchromatic camera (PAN) to provide imageries with a spatial resolution of better than one metre and a swath of 9.6 km. The satellite can be steered up to 45 deg along as well as across the track. The data from the satellite will be used for cartographic applications at cadastral level, urban and rural infrastructure development and management, as well as applications in Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS).

Soon after its separation from the DLA, the two solar arrays of CARTOSAT-2 were automatically deployed to generate the electrical power for the satellite. The satellite health is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISTRAC at Bangalore with the help of its network of stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Bearslake in Russia, Biak in Indonesia, as well as support from Svalbard ground station in Sweden for the initial phase of the CARTOSAT-2 mission. Further operations on the satellite like orbit trimming, checking out the various subsystems and, finally, switching on the cameras will be carried out in the coming days.

With ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore, as the lead Centre, CARTOSAT-2 was realised with major contributions from Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, LPSC at Bangalore, and IISU, Thiruvananthapuram. ISTRAC is responsible for initial and in-orbit operation of CARTOSAT-2. The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad receives and processes the data from CARTOSAT-2.

Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1): Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), developed by ISRO’s VSSC and ISAC, is a 550 kg capsule, intended to demonstrate the technology of an orbiting platform for performing experiments in microgravity conditions. After the completion of the experiments, the capsule will de-orbited after a few days and recovered. SRE-1 mission will provide valuable experience in such important fields like navigation, guidance and control during the re-entry phase, hypersonic aero-thermodynamics facilitating the development of reusable thermal protection system (TPS), recovery through deceleration and floatation besides acquisition of basic technology for reusable launch vehicles.

SRE-1 carries two experiments, an Isothermal Heating Furnace [IHF] and a Biomimetic (Biomineralisation of Inorganic materials) experiment. IHF will be operated to perform metallurgical experiments while Biomimetic experiment will be operated to perform Biomimetic synthesis. SRE-1 comprises aero-thermo structure, spacecraft platform, deceleration and floatation system besides the micro-gravity payloads. It has a sphere-cone-flare configuration with a spherical nose of about 0.5 m radius, base diameter of 2 m and 1.6 m height. The capsule is made of mild steel. The parachute, pyro devices, avionics packages of triggering unit and sequencer, telemetry and tracking system and sensors for measurement of system performance parameters are placed inside SRE capsule.

Two days before de-orbiting, SRE-1 will be placed in a Repetitive Elliptical Orbit. Subsequently, it will be reoriented and deboost rocket is fired to make it reenter the earth’s atmosphere. Close loop guidance system is employed during deboost and coasting phases leading to its recovery. On re-entry, after initial aerodynamic braking, a parachute system will reduce the touch down velocity. SRE-1 will splashdown in the Bay of Bengal, east of Sriharikota coast. A floatation system will keep SRE afloat and enables its recovery.

SRE-1 is being tracked and monitored by ground stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Biak in Indonesia, Bearslake in Russia, Saskatoon in Canada and Svalbard in Sweden/Transo in Norway.

LAPAN-TUBSAT and PEHUENSAT-1: LAPAN-TUBSAT and PEHUENSAT-1 were launched under commercial agreements. LAPAN-TUBSAT is a cooperative venture between Indonesian Space Agency, LAPAN and Technical University of Berlin. It is an earth observation satellite besides a technical demonstrator in control systems. The 56 kg LAPAN-TUBSAT carries two Charge Coupled Device (CCD) cameras with ground resolutions of 5 m and 200 m respectively. It also carries an experiment for message store and forward system.

PEHUENSAT-1 is a 6 kg Argentinean nano-satellite meant to serve educational, technological and scientific fields. PEHUENSAT-1, developed by University of Comahue of Argentina, AMSAT (Amateur Satellite Association of Argentina) and Argentina Association for Space Technology, is intended to provide an experiment platform to perform amateur radio experiments between colleges and universities of Argentina.

With its ninth consecutively successful launch today, PSLV has once again proved its reliability and versatility to orbit multiple satellites and launch satellites in different types of orbit. In today’s launch, several improvements to the vehicle and the Dual Launch Adopter have been proved in flight.