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 Three
of the satellites belonged to Algeria. Canada
and Switzerland, and the remaining fifth was a
small pico satellite weighing less than one kg,
built jointly by students of seven engineering
colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in southern
India.
The satellites were carried aboard the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s workhorse
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the 230
tonne 44 metre tall rocket powered by conventional
solid fuel propellants. It was launched from the
Sriharikota space port on the Andhra coast in
Bay of Bengal.
The Algerian satellite Alsat-2A (116 kg) is for
remote sensing while the other two are nano satellites
built by the University of Toronto and University
of Applied Sciences, (Switzerland) and STUDSAT.
India has so far launched 25 foreign satellites.
ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan told newmen that
all the satellites “were injected precisely,”
and that there would be two more launches within
the next three months. One of these would be by
the cryogenic Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV), whose first test flight had failed
in April this year due to a fuel supply problem.
ISRO’s Spacecraft Control Centre at Bangalore
is tracking the satellites with a network of earth
stations spread across many countries as part
of cooperative efforts not only within India but
also in Mauritius, Bearslake in Russia, Biak in
Indonesia and Svalbard in Sweden
The $ 6 million Cartosat-2B is India's 17th remote
sensing satellite, augmenting data from the earlier
Cartosat-2 and 2A.
The five satellites, launched in orbit at an
altitude of 637 km, will be operational one by
one. The Cartosat-2B, which has a panchromatic
camera with high spatial resolution and stereoscopic
vision, will be operational within a week.
The PSLV rocket has been used to launch satellites
16 times so far.
PSLV: Workhorse
of ISRO
Factfile
New Delhi. Since its first launch in 1994, India's
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has so far
placed 41 satellites (19 Indian and 22 foreign)
into orbit - making it one of the most successful
launch vehicles ever worldwide.
- The PSLV was originally developed and operated
by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites
into orbit with the help of Russia. It was then
used for launching a variety of satellites.
- The Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV)
project is of an earlier vintage, initiated
in 1990 by ISRO to acquire launch capability
for geo-synchronous satellites (which seem to
be parked above the earth in a particular spot).
- Until then, India also relied on the erstwhile
Soviet Union for the launch of heavy satellites.
- GSLV-Mark I&II, is capable of placing
the INSAT-II class of satellites, weighing between
2,000 and 2,500 kg, into orbit.
- The GSLV-III is a launch vehicle currently
under development by ISRO.
- GSLV-III is conceived and designed to make
ISRO fully self-reliant in launching heavier
communication satellites of the INSAT-4 class,
which weigh 4,500 to 5,000 kg.
- In April 2008, ISRO successfully launched
a PSLV with 10 satellites in one go, breaking
a world record once held by Russia. A PSLV costs
$17 million for each launch.
- The PSLV has four stages, alternately using
solid and liquid propulsion systems.
- The GSLV is a three-stage launch vehicle
with the first stage being solid (fuel)-propelled,
the second liquid-propelled (with hypergolic
fuels) and the final stage being liquid propelled
as well as with cryogenic fuels.
- A rocket propellant combination is called
hypergolic when the propellants spontaneously
ignite when they come into contact.
- The GSLV variants improved on the performance
of the PSLV with the addition of liquid strap-on
boosters and cryogenic fuel required for the
final stage.
- Cryogenic fuels require storage at extremely
low temperatures in order to maintain them in
a liquid state.
(IANS)
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