ISRO’s PSLV-C56 mission successfully lifts off with Singaporean satellites on board
There are six copassengers on the rocket, all of which are from Singapore.
News Desk m, New Delhi – The PSLV-C56 mission carrying the DS-SAR satellite and six copassengers blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the Sriharikota High Altitude Range. The PSLV is considered ISRO’s workhorse rocket, has a nearly flawless record, and has never failed to deploy a satellite for a customer. The launch is a dedicated commercial mission by New Space India Limited, the commercial wing of ISRO, for Singapore based ST Engineering.
The rocket flew in the core alone configuration without strap-on boosters.
All satellites are being injected into a circular orbit at an altitude of 535 kilometres. The DS-SAR satellite is an Earth observation satellite with radar imaging capabilities, that will be used for the requirements of the various departments of the Government of Singapore. The Synthetic Aperture Radar on board has been developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. The satellite will be able to capture images of the Earth in night and day, at a sub metre resolution.
The VELOX-AM is an academic satellite that will demonstrate 3D printing in a microgravity environment. ARCADE has an experimental hall-effect thruster, while SCOOB-II and Galassia-2 are academic nanosatellites. NuLIon is an IOT oriented nanosatellite, while ORB-12 STRIDER will demonstrate the world’s first multimodal all-electric propulsion engine (MEPE).
ISRO itself is using an innovative approach to reduce the amount of junk in space.
The remaining propellant on the upper stage of the rocket will be used to reduce its altitude after all the satellites have been deployed. Typically, the upper stage is junked at this point, and becomes orbital debris. ISRO’s innovative approach will reduce the amount of time the upper stage spends orbiting the Earth.
