On Friday, February 10, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved yet another milestone as it successfully launched its new offering, Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D2), from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The SSLV successfully placed the earth observation satellite-07 (EOS-07) and two co-passenger satellites — Janus-1 and AzaadiSat2 — in a 450-km circular orbit around the Earth in its 15 minutes flight at around 9:18 AM.
Taking to Twitter, the space agency informed about the success of the mission and wrote, “SSLV-D2/EOS-07 Mission is accomplished successfully. SSLV-D2 placed EOS-07, Janus-1, and AzaadiSAT-2 into their intended orbits.”
After the successful launch of the SSLV-D2, ISRO chief S Somnath said, “We now have a new launch vehicle. In its second attempt, SSLV has accurately placed the satellites in orbit. Congratulations to all three satellite teams. We had a near miss owing to a velocity shortfall during SSLV’s first flight. We have analyzed the issue, determined the corrective course of action, and qualified the system at a fast pace.”
The launch takes place months after this LV’s first flight in August last year, which was partially unsuccessful due to an orbital anomaly and a divergence in the rocket’s flight path.
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle
The SSLV is the sixth launch vehicle that ISRO has designed and developed in a bid to share the burden of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and to cater to the small satellite launch market.
SSLV offers a “launch-on-demand” facility for smaller satellites weighing up to 500 kg into low Earth orbit. It offers low launch infrastructure requirements, quick turnaround times, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, and affordable access to space. It is set up with a velocity terminal module and three solid propulsion stages. It is a 34 m tall, 2 m wide, and 120 t lift-off mass vehicle.
The SSLV has the capability to launch mini, nano, or microsatellites weighing between 10 and 500 kg into a 500 km planar orbit. It is a three-stage vehicle with a velocity trimming module (VTM) at its terminal stage that is based on solid and liquid-based propulsion.
It is notable that a launch vehicle is declared operational only after it completes two successful development flights. The GSLV Mk III, now known as LVM 3, was the latest launch vehicle to be deemed operational when it carried Chandrayaan-2 in 2019. The Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3) is ISRO’s latest medium-heavy lift launch vehicle and the space agency’s heaviest rocket. The rocket, formerly identified as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), is designed to primarily launch satellites into geostationary orbit at 35,000 kilometres.
In October last year, ISRO launched the LVM3-M2, on its debut commercial mission. The rocket carrying 36 satellites was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota as part of the space agency’s OneWeb India-1 mission.
The SSLV successfully placed three satellites in orbit, ISRO’s earth observation satellite-07 (EOS-07), and two passenger satellites Janus-1 and AzaadiSat2. Janus-1, a 10.2 kg satellite, belongs to ANTARIS, USA. About 750 girl students from all over India collaborated to develop the 8.7 kg satellite AzaadiSAT-2 under the direction of Space Kidz India, Chennai.
Earth Observation Satellite-07
The 156.3-kilogram EOS-07 satellite was designed and developed by ISRO, and it was manufactured at the U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru. The Earth Observation Satellites are used to gather high-quality images which are used in various applications such as Agriculture, Forestry & Plantation, Soil Moisture & Hydrology and Flood mapping. The new experiments added in the EOS-07 are mm-Wave Humidity Sounder and Spectrum Monitoring Payload.
The EOS-07 satellite has two solar arrays and Li-ion batteries to power it.
Janus-1
The smart satellite mission Janus-1 is a technology demonstrator built on the US-based Antaris software platform in partnership with India’s XDLinks and Ananth Technologies. . It demonstrates a modular bus, multiple tenant payloads, onboard edge computing, programmable smart EPS, secure telemetry, tracking, and control (TT&C), as well as digital twinning with SaaS platform. It is noteworthy that TT&C is a subsystem of a satellite that connects the satellite to the ground-based facilities.
A press release by Antaris describes JANUS-1 as a 6U or six-unit CubeSat satellite that has five separate payloads running on its ‘SatOS’ satellite software once in orbit. The JANUS-1 satellite was primarily manufactured by XDLINX Labs and Ananth Technologies, with ground station services supplied by ATLAS Space Operations.
AzaadiSAT-2
AzaadiSAT-2 is aimed at demonstrating LoRa and amateur radio communication capabilities, measuring radiation levels in space, and also demonstrating expandable satellite structure.
The payloads have been built by 750 girl students from across India. In August of last year, SpaceKidzIndia, an aerospace startup had launched a similar satellite aboard SSLV-D1. Although the payloads are still LoRa amateur radio, a radiation level sensor, and sensors to gauge the satellite’s health including temperature, reset count, and inertial data, but this second satellite has an extra function.
The satellite has been made expandable by SpaceKidzIndia. The satellite uses a novel expansion technique to expand eight times bigger after it has reached orbit, giving it the ability to generate four times as much power as it can in a stowed configuration.
The satellite carries the G20 logo to space and the NCC song to celebrate 75 years of the organization. Devi Sri Prasad, better known by his stage as DSP, wrote the “space song” about rural Indian girl students and children of rural India to dream and inspire of becoming Space Scientists. A song that shows the journey of a village girl to Space in her Dream. The satellite also carries the G20 logo as India holds its presidency this year.