India all set for commercial satellite launch

[Contrarian]

India all set for commercial satellite launch on April 23


DH News Service Chennai:
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C8, in its 11th flight, will put a 352-kg Italian astronomical satellite AGILE into a 550 km circular orbit, inclined at an angle of 2.5 deg to the equator.

The stage is set for the first commercial launch of a foreign satellite by India from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, 80 km from here, on Monday.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C8, in its 11th flight, will put a 352-kg Italian astronomical satellite AGILE into a 550 km circular orbit, inclined at an angle of 2.5 deg to the equator.

An Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), weighing 185 kg, to test advanced launch vehicle avionics systems like mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems, is also flown on PSLV-C8. The rocket will be launched from the second launch pad at the space port. A Dual Launch Adaptor (DLA) is employed in PSLV-C8 and AGILE is mounted on top of DLA while AAM is mounted inside DLA.

With a much lighter payload and the low inclination of the orbit in which AGILE is to be placed, PSLV-C8 is configured without the six solid propellant strap-on motors of the first stage. Also, the propellant in the fourth stage is reduced by about 400 kg compared to previous PSLV flight. The core-alone PSLV-C8 will have a lift-off mass of 230 tonne.

Hailed as the workhorse of ISRO, PSLV has had nine successful flights in a row so far. Since its first successful launch in 1994, PSLV has launched eight Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, HAMSAT, a recoverable space capsule SRE-1 and six small satellites for foreign customers, including Germany, South Korea, Belgium, Indonesia and Argentina, into 550-800 km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO).

Unlike these satellites which rode piggyback on Indian satellites, this time PSLV is being used exclusively for the launch of the Italian satellite.

PSLV has launched India’s exclusive meteorological satellite, Kalpana-1, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).

PSLV was originally designed to place 1,000-kg class India’s remote sensing satellites into a 900 km polar sun-synchronous orbit.

The payload capability of PSLV has been successively enhanced. In its ninth flight( PSLV-C6 in May 2005) it launched two payloads – 1,560 kg CARTOSAT-1 and 42 kg HAMSAT – into a 620 km SSO.

In its previous flight(PSLV-C7) it launched four payloads – 680 kg CARTOSAT-1, 550 kg Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), 56 kg LAPAN-TUBSAT of Indonesia and the 6 kg PEHUENSAT-1 of Argentina – into a 635 km high polar sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.9 deg with respect to the equator.

Compared to other foreign satellites, AGILE is the heaviest.

PSLV will be used to launch India’s first spacecraft mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, during 2008. In its standard configuration, the 44 m tall PSLV has a lift-off mass of 295 tonne.

http://deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr222007/national031372007422.asp

 

[Contrarian]

PSLV-C8: final countdown begins

T.S. Subramanian

Launch is set for 3.30 p.m. on Monday from the second launch pad

# Will put in orbit Italy's Agile satellite
# Carrying a module to test advanced avionics

Photo: Special Arrangement


CHENNAI: The final countdown for the lift-off of Indian Space Research Organisation's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C 8) began at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The PSLV's 11th flight is expected to take place from the new sophisticated second launch pad at 3.30 p.m. on Monday (April 23).

The vehicle will put into orbit Italian Space Agency's Agile satellite for studying astronomical phenomena in the distant universe. The analysis of gamma-ray and X-ray bursts can provide clues about the origin of the universe.

The PSLV will also carry an important payload called the Advanced Avionics Module (AAM) to flight-test advanced avionics such as computers, navigation and telemetry systems for use in ISRO's future launch vehicles. The AAM has been built by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram.

Core-alone

For the first time, the PSLV is flying without its customary six massive strap-on booster motors strung around its first stage. Hence it is called a "core-alone" vehicle.

B.N. Suresh, Director, VSSC, said from Sriharikota, "All the systems are performing as expected. We hope everything will go smoothly and we can have the launch at 3.30 p.m. on April 23."

After the four stages were stacked up in the Vehicle Assembly Building, the 44-metre tall vehicle standing on the launch pedestal slowly rolled on rails to the launch pad more than a km away on April 19.

The 352-kg satellite was earlier mated with the rocket. The 185-kg AAM also found its slot. "Agile is in good health.

All satellite tests have been completed. Only battery-charging in the satellite remains to be done," said the VSSC Director.

Dr. Suresh said, "The AAM is an important payload for ISRO itself because we are going to test a next generation computer, navigation, guidance and control systems using it." The AAM has an on-board next generation computer, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), two advanced inertial navigation systems and another navigation system aided by a Global Positioning System (GPS).

It has advanced telemetry packages. The VSSC built all these challenging technologies and introduced them in the AAM.

"The flight tests of these systems will provide enough confidence to ISRO to induct these technologies into future PSLVs, GSLVs (Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles) and GSLV-Mark III," Dr. Suresh said.

The PSLVs had earlier put in orbit six small satellites from abroad at a nominal fee. This time Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial arm of the Department of Space, is charging international rates.

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