The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on August 16 launched the EOS-08 Earth Observation Satellite onboard the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)-D3 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The SSLV-D3 in its third and final development flight lifted off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 9.17 am.
Seventeen minutes later the EOS-08 satellite was injected into 475 km circular orbit as intended.
“The third developmental flight of SSLV, the SSLV-D3 with the EOS-08 satellite has been successfully accomplished. The rocket has placed the spacecraft in a very precise orbit as planned. I find that there are no deviations in the injection conditions. The current indication is that everything is perfect,” ISRO Chairman S Somanath said after the successful launch.
Mr Somanath said that with scucess of the SSLV-D3, ISRO has declared the development process of SSLV completed.
“We are on the process of transfer of the technology of the SSLV to the industry and for serial production and launch of SSLV, this is a great beginning,” Mr Somanath said
EOS-08 is a first-of-its-kind mission built on a standard ISRO’s Microsat/IMS-1 bus with a suite of advanced payloads for observation in IR range, novel GNSS-R Payload and SiC UV dosimeter.
The satellite carries a host of new technology developments in satellite mainframe systems like an Integrated Avionics system – Communication, Baseband, Storage and Positioning (CBSP) Package, Structural panel embedded with PCB, embedded battery, Micro-DGA (Dual Gimbal Antenna), M-PAA (Phased array antenna) and Flexible solar panel & Nano star sensor etc for onboard Technology Demonstration. The satellite is slated for launch by the SSLV-D3.
The satellite carries three payloads namely Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), SAC, Global Navigation Satellite System- Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R), SAC and SiC UV Dosimeter, LEOS.
The EOIR payload is to image in Mid-Wave IR (MIR) band and in Long Wave IR (LWIR) band during day and night for various applications like Satellite based surveillance, Disaster Monitoring, Environmental Monitoring, Fire Detection, Volcanic activities and Industrial and power plant disaster.
GNSS-R payload is to demonstrate the capability using GNSS-R based remote sensing to derive applications like Ocean Surface Winds, Soil moisture, Cryosphere applications over Himalayan Region, Flood detection, In-land water body detection etc.
SiC UV Dosimeter is to monitor the UV irradiance at the View Port of the Crew Module in Gaganyaan Mission and to use as a high dose alarm sensor for UV Radiation.
The spacecraft mission configuration is set to operate in a Circular Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 475 km with an inclination of 37.4°, and has a mission life of 1 year. Also onboard was the SR-0 DEMOSAT developed by Space Kidz India which was also placed in the intended orbit.
The SSLV is capable of launching Mini, Micro or Nano satellites (10 to 500kg mass) into 500km planar orbit. SSLV is a three-stage launch vehicle with all solid propulsion stages and liquid propulsion based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) as terminal stage.
According to ISRO the design drivers of SSLV are low cost, low turn-around time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch on demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements, etc.