The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully launched its second developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle – SSLV-D2 – from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC)-SHAR in Sriharikota on Friday.
The SSLV-D2 mission's success followed the failure of India's smallest commercial rocket (SSLV-D1) to place the satellite in the intended orbits during its first launch on August 7 last year.
The SSLV-D2 lifted off from the first launch pad at SDSC-SHAR at 9:18 am. Some 13 minutes after the lift-off, it successfully placed Isro's earth observation satellite, EOS-07, into a 450 km circular orbit. It also placed the Janus-1 and AzaadiSAT-2 satellites into their desired orbits 1.6 minutes later.
An 8.7 kg satellite, AzaadiSAT-2, is a combined effort of about 750 girl students from across India, guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai.
A beaming Isro chairman S. Somanath announced that the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and SSLV would be launched by the prestigious space agency next month.
“Isro is preparing for a commercial satellite launch at a new facility in March. We would launch 36 satellites of the UK-based One-Web," he stated.
He complimented all of the female students on the successful launch of AzaadiSAT-2.
The Isro chief said they had narrowly missed the placing of the satellite in orbit last year due to a shortfall in velocity. “We analysed the problems and took corrective steps. The orbit reached by the vehicle today is really good," he added.
"With SSLV, India has a new satellite launch vehicle," remarked S.S. Vinod, mission director of SSLV. “Isro has created a new commodity. We had the maiden flight in August last but couldn't put the satellite in the desired orbit. Following that, we carried out a comprehensive investigation and fixed the flaws. We are back after five months, and we'll be back shortly with the next SSLV launch," he said.
According to Isro, the EOS-07 is a 156.3 kg satellite designed, developed and realised by Isro. It features new experiments including mm-Wave Humidity Sounder and Spectrum Monitoring Payload. Weighing around 10.2 kg, Janus-1 is a technology demonstrator, a smart satellite mission based on the Antaris software platform.
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