{"id":11355,"date":"2022-08-06T01:54:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T17:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/india-ready-to-debut-solid-fueled-smallsat-launcher\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T01:54:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T17:54:27","slug":"india-ready-to-debut-solid-fueled-smallsat-launcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/india-ready-to-debut-solid-fueled-smallsat-launcher\/","title":{"rendered":"India ready to debut solid-fueled smallsat launcher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
An illustration of India\u2019s 111-foot-tall (34-meter) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

India\u2019s space agency will debut a new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Saturday, adding a fourth member to the company\u2019s rocket fleet. The SSLV\u2019s test flight will take off from Sriharikota Island on India\u2019s east coast with a small Earth observation satellite and a CubeSat from an Indian startup focused on science education.<\/p>\n

The SSLV test flight, known as SSLV-D1, is set for launch at 0448 GMT Sunday (11:48 p.m. EDT Saturday) from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center. The three-stage rocket will head southeast from spaceport about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Chennai, aiming for an orbit about 221 miles (356 kilometers) above Earth at an inclination of 37.2 degrees to the equator.<\/p>\n

The 111-foot-tall (34-meter) rocket is powered by three solid-fueled motors and a \u201ctrimming module\u201d fueled by hydrazine to maneuver satellites into precise orbits. The SSLV\u2019s first stage motor will produce more than a half-million pounds of thrust during its two-minute firing. The second and third stages will complete their burns about seven-and-a-half minutes into the flight.<\/p>\n

The rocket\u2019s liquid-fueled trimming module will ignite at T+plus 10 minutes, 42 seconds, to nudge the two payloads into orbit. The EOS-02 spacecraft will separate from the SSLV trimming module at T+plus 12 minutes, 22 seconds, followed by release of the AzaadiSAT nanosatellite about 50 seconds later.<\/p>\n

The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, first proposed development of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle in 2016. The development program has cost about $21 million, according to ISRO. The agency aims to manufacture the SSLV for about $4 million per vehicle, good enough to compete with the stable of commercial smallsat launchers from companies like Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit.<\/p>\n

The rocket is capable of hauling a payload of up to 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) into a 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) orbit, ISRO said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSSLV provides low-cost access to space on demand basis,\u201d ISRO said. \u201cIt offers low turnaround time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch-on-demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
India\u2019s fleet of launch vehicles. The LVM3 (GSLV Mk.3) is the most powerful lndian rocket, and the SSLV is the newest member. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The SSLV joins India\u2019s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.3 and GSLV Mk.2 rockets, and the workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in ISRO\u2019s fleet.<\/p>\n

The EOS-02 satellite on the maiden flight of the SSLV rocket weighs about 297 pounds (135 kilograms). The infrared imaging spacecraft will demonstrate Earth observation technologies with applications in areas of agriculture, forestry, geology, and hydrology, according to ISRO.<\/p>\n

The secondary payload on the SSLV-D1 mission is named AzaadiSAT. The 16.1-pound (7.3-kilogram) nanosatellite is managed by an Indian educational organization named Space Kids India, and carries 75 small payloads from rural Indian students. The CubeSat carries an amateur radio transponder, a radiation detector, and a \u201cselfie\u201d camera.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An illustration of India\u2019s 111-foot-tall (34-meter) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. Credit: ISRO India\u2019s space agency will debut a new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Saturday, adding a fourth member to the company\u2019s rocket fleet. The SSLV\u2019s test flight will take off from Sriharikota Island on India\u2019s east coast with a small Earth observation satellite and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}