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Mahesh

08/08/22 13:38 PM IST

ISRO maiden SSLV launch fails as two satellites are no longer usable

In News 
  • While the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) lifted off smoothly from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the mission did not reach its intended destination and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said that the satellites are no longer usable.
Why did mission fail? 
  • The SSLV-D1 was unable to complete its mission.
  • Satellites achieving a lower orbit meant that they would not hold up in space and would drop back to Earth.
  • SSLV-D1 placed the satellites into 356 km x 76 km elliptical orbit instead of 356 km circular orbit - 76 km is the lowest point close to the surface of the earth.
  • In such an orbit, the satellites would not stay for long and come back down.
  • The failure of the mission appears to have been the result of a faulty sensor. 
  • As per ISRO, failure of logic to identify a sensor failure and go for salvage action caused the deviation.
About Satellites 
  •  Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-02) and the AzadiSAT, a CubeSat developed by 750 girl students to mark the 75th year of India's Independence.
  • The satellites likely ended up over the Pacific between Australia and New Zealand.
  • The EOS-02 is an experimental optical remote sensing satellite with a high spatial resolution.
  • Its is to realise and fly an experimental imaging satellite with a short-turnaround time and to demonstrate launch-on-demand capability.
  • EOS-02 belongs to the microsatellite series of space crafts.
  • The AzaadiSAT is a 8U Cubesat weighing around 8kgs.
  • It carries 75 different payloads each weighing around 50grams.
  • Girl students from rural regions across the country were provided guidance to build these payloads..
  • The payloads are integrated by the student team of ‘Space Kidz India’. The ground system developed by ‘Space Kidz India’ will be utilised for receiving the data from this satellite.
SSLV 
  • The SSLV can put payloads (mini, micro or nanosatellites) weighing upto 500 kg into the 500 km planar orbit.
  • SSLV is a three-stage all solid vehicle and has a capability to launch up to 500 kg satellite mass into 500 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 300 kg to Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
  • It is perfectly suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs.
  • The key features of SSLV are low cost, with low turn-around time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch on demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements, etc.
Source- Indian Express 

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