Indias' recent rocket launch has set a record breaker

Sunday, February 19, 2017 Unknown 0 Comments Category : ,



PSLV-C37 (also known as Cartosat-2 series satellite) was the 39th mission of the PSLV program and its 16th mission in XL configuration.The PSLV-C37 successfully carried and deployed a record 104 satellites in Sun-synchronous orbit.Launched on 15 February 2017 by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, it broke the earlier records of launching 37 satellites by Russian Dnepr rocket on 19 June 2014 and of 29 satellites by NASA's Minotaur rocket on 19 November 2013. The cost of the launch was US$15 million. According to ISRO, the 101 international satellites were launched as part of a commercial arrangement between several countries and Antrix Corporation Limited, a company run by the Indian government under the Department of Space, a commercial arm of ISRO.

Launch Procedure

The PSLV-C37 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 09:28  on 15 February 2017. It carried a total of 104 satellites including the 714 kilograms (1,574 lb) primary payload Cartosat-2D.The launcher started placing the satellites into a polar Sun-synchronous orbit one after the other after a flight of 16 minutes and 48 seconds.It first injected the satellite Cartosat-2D at an altitude of 510.383 km, followed by the two ISRO nanosatellites INS-1A and INS-1B.It then took 11 minutes for the PSLV C-37 to place the remaining 101 "co-passenger" satellites into their intended orbits.
Soon after separation from the launch vehicle, the two solar arrays on board Cartosat-2D satellite were automatically deployed. Afterwards, ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru took over the control of the satellite. The satellite, once brought to its final operational configuration, will begin to provide remote sensing services using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras. The mission lasted for 29 minutes.
Originally PSLV-C37 was set to launch in January 2017 with 83 satellites. With addition of twenty more satellites to the payload, the schedule was changed to 15 February 2017.

The rocket launched 104 satellites: two nanosatellites from India, one each from Kazakhstan, Israel, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates along with 96 from the United States of America (88 Dove satellites and 8 LEMUR satellites). The three Indian satellites launched were Cartosat-2D, INS-1A, and INS-1B. The 101 satellites were launched as a part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited, the Department of Space by the Government of India, the commercial arm of ISRO, and the International customers.


Cost

The total cost of the mission was US$15 million for the 1378 kg payloads.[18] ISRO said that it would recover half the budget of the mission from the foreign countries whose satellites it would launch.[19]

Usage

The imagery from the Cartosat-2D, the primary satellite carried, will be used for various land information system and geographical information system applications in India. Two Indian nanosatellites, INS-1A and INS-1B, will be used for future science and experimental payloads. The DOVE satellites by the USA will be used to photograph the earth for commercial, environmental, and humanitarian purposes. The LEMUR satellites will be used for vessel tracking and will be carrying weather measurements using GPS radio occultation. Al Farabi-1 from Kazakhstan, Nayif-1 from the United Arab Emirates, and PEASSS from The Netherlands are technology demonstrator satellites whereas DIDO-2 from Switzerland is a micro researcher satellite. BGUSat from Israel will be primarily used for avionic systems.


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