ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) launched its smallest rocket, SSLV, (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) today morning from their launch site at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The SSLV stands for Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. It is developed by ISRO and has a payload capacity of 500kgs. It will be used to deliver 500 kg to low Earth orbit or 300 kg to Sun-synchronous orbit for launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs.
ISRO and its commercial subsidiary, New Space India Ltd had the plan of transfer of technology to a private sector company for production.
Shortly after launch, ISRO reported data loss in the terminal stage of the launch.
S Somnath, the chairperson of ISRO said, “All stages performed as expected. The first stage performed and separated, the second stage performed and separated, the third stage also performed and separated, and in the terminal phase of the mission, some data loss is occurring and we are analysing the data and we will come back on the status of the satellites as well as the vehicle performance soon.”
“We are processing the data to conclude on the final outcome of the mission with respect to the stable orbit is achieved or not”, he added.
The SSLV D-1 was carrying the EOS-02 experimental optical remote sensing satellite with a high spatial resolution and the AzaadiSAT, a satellite built by 750 girl students from 75 rural schools across India.
AzaadiSAT is an 8U cube satellite weighing 8kgs.
Today afternoon, ISRO announced on Twitter that SSLV-D1 placed the satellites into a 356 km x 76 km elliptical orbit instead of a 356 km circular orbit. Satellites are no longer usable. Failure of a logic to identify a sensor failure and go for a salvage action caused the deviation. A committee would analyse and recommend.
ISRO said after the implementation of the recommendations of the committee, they would make a comeback with SSLV –D2.
