{"id":13266,"date":"2019-03-31T18:47:32","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T10:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/indias-pslv-poised-for-launch-with-29-satellites\/"},"modified":"2019-03-31T18:47:32","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T10:47:32","slug":"indias-pslv-poised-for-launch-with-29-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/indias-pslv-poised-for-launch-with-29-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s PSLV poised for launch with 29 satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"
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India\u2019s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, fitted with four solid rocket boosters, stands on the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India\u2019s east coast on the Bay of Bengal. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled for liftoff Sunday night with an intelligence-gathering electronic surveillance satellite and 28 secondary payloads, including 20 Earth-imaging Dove nanosatellites for Planet, the U.S. company which criticized India\u2019s anti-satellite test for generating space debris last week.<\/p>\n

Heading for three different orbits on a marathon mission that will conclude with the rocket\u2019s fourth stage becoming a platform for experiments, the PSLV is set for launch at 0357 GMT Monday (11:57 p.m. EDT Sunday) from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island, located on India\u2019s east coast on the Bay of Bengal.<\/p>\n

Liftoff is scheduled for 9:27 a.m. Indian Standard Time on Monday.<\/p>\n

The PSLV will launch in a new configuration with four strap-on solid rocket boosters, a configuration named the PSLV-QL. Previous PSLVs launched with six, two or zero strap-on motors.<\/p>\n

In another first, the PSLV\u2019s liquid-fueled fourth stage carries solar panels to generate electricity in space, providing power to three payloads that will use the spent rocket body as a hosting platform in orbit.<\/p>\n

The primary payload is EMISat, an Indian satellite with instrumentation to detect, locate and characterize electromagnetic signals, such as those transmitted by military radars. The PSLV\u2019s fourth stage will release EMISat, a 961-pound (436-kilogram) spacecraft built for India\u2019s defense forces, in an orbit 465 miles (749 kilometers) above Earth, then maneuver into a lower 313-mile-high (504-kilometer) orbit for the deployment of 28 more satellites, according to information published by the Indian Space Research Organization.<\/p>\n

The PSLV is the workhorse rocket for India\u2019s space program, launching several times a year, often with an Indian government satellite and a collection of smaller spacecraft built by organizations and companies in other countries.<\/p>\n

A PSLV mission in 2017 set the record for the largest number of satellites ever launched on a single rocket, delivering 104 spacecraft to low Earth orbit for a range of international customers. The upcoming PSLV flight, designated PSLV-C45, will mark India\u2019s second space launch of the year.<\/p>\n

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The 29 satellites slated to launch on India\u2019s PSLV are enclosed inside the rocket\u2019s payload shroud. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twenty of the secondary payloads set for launch on the PSLV-C45 mission are owned by Planet, a San Francisco-based company which operates more than 100 Earth-imaging satellites. Planet\u2019s next 20 Dove nanosatellites, each about the size of a toaster oven, will join the company\u2019s imaging fleet providing daily views of every location on Earth.<\/p>\n

The new batch of Dove CubeSats are part of a group named \u201cFlock 4a\u201d by Planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlock 4a will join our current constellation of 100+ Doves, replenishing our on-orbit fleet and furthering our daily global monitoring mission,\u201d wrote Mike Safyan, Planet\u2019s vice president of launch, in a post on the company\u2019s website. \u201cHowever, these Dove satellites aren\u2019t solely for replenishment. They\u2019re equipped with the latest technology \u2013 upgrades to our imaging chain to improve image sharpness, radiometric consistency, and spectral precision \u2013 and push the boundaries of what our on-orbit Doves are capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planet sells its imagery to commercial clients and governments, including U.S. intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

The PSLV launch set for Sunday night (U.S. time) will be India\u2019s first since the country\u2019s military successfully tested an anti-satellite missile Wednesday, destroying an Indian satellite in orbit roughly 175 miles (282 kilometers) above Earth.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s test of a satellite kill vehicle shattered the mission\u2019s target, named Microsat-R, into countless fragments. Due to the relatively low altitude of the intercept, most of the material is expected naturally re-enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere within days or weeks, but some debris ejected into higher orbits from the force of the impact could remain in orbit longer.<\/p>\n

Officials from several commercial satellite operators, including Planet, condemned the anti-satellite test.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpace should be used for peaceful purposes, and destroying satellites on orbit severely threatens the long-term stability of the space environment for all space operators,\u201d Planet said in a statement. \u201cPlanet urges all space-capable nations to respect our orbital commons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday night\u2019s launch will mark the fifth time Planet has put its satellites on an Indian rocket, making Planet one of the Indian space program\u2019s biggest export customers.<\/p>\n

Planet books its rides on PSLV missions with Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO. For Sunday\u2019s launch, Planet arranged for its satellites to ride on the PSLV through Spaceflight, a commercial smallsat launch broker based in Seattle.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Air Force\u2019s 18th Space Control Squadron, which detects and catalogs objects in Earth orbit, said in a tweet Friday it is \u201cactively tracking more than 250 pieces of debris associated with (the) Indian ASAT launch\u201d and that the Joint Force Space Component Command is \u201cissuing conjunction notifications to satellite operators as needed to support spaceflight safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analytical Graphics Inc. modeled the Indian anti-satellite test, and the company\u2019s experts suggested the missile struck the Microsat-R satellite at a relative velocity of nearly 22,000 mph, or 9.8 kilometers per second.<\/p>\n