In another major achievement, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C43) successfully launched 31 satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) today in Sriharikota.
The PSLV-C43 lifted off from the First Launch Pad and injected India’s Hyper-Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) into a 645 km sun-synchronous polar orbit 17 minutes and 19 seconds after the lift-off.
Later, 30 foreign satellites were injected into their intended orbit after restarting the vehicle’s fourth stage engines twice. The last satellite was injected into its designated orbit 1 hour and 49 minutes after the lift-off.
After separation, the two solar arrays of HysIS were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru gained control of the satellite. The satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration in the next few days. HysIS Project Director Shri Suresh K. said that the satellite is performing normally after the launch.
HysIS is an earth observation satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite2 (IMS-2) bus weighing about 380kg. The mission life of the satellite is five years.
The primary goal of HysIS is to study the earth’s surface in both the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Data from the satellite will be used for a wide range of applications including agriculture, forestry, soil/geological environments, coastal zones and inland waters, etc. HysIS had the company of one micro and 29 nano-satellites from eight countries, including Australia (1), Canada (1), Columbia (1), Finland (1), Malaysia (1), Netherlands (1), Spain (1) and USA (23).
The total weight of these satellites was about 261.50 kg. Satellites from Australia, Columbia, Malaysia and Spain were flown aboard PSLV for the first time. These foreign satellites launched are part of commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited and customers.
Congratulating the ISRO scientists after the successful launch of PSLV C-43, ISRO Chairman Dr K. Sivan said it is a very proud moment for the nation as the HysIS was indigenously designed and built. “HysIS is a state-of-the-art satellite with many indigenous components developed by SAC, Ahmedabad and SCL, Chandigarh,” he said.
Dr Sivan said the main purpose of the HysIS is to exactly identify the objects on the surface of the earth with high precision and resolution. “HysIS will start sending images from the fifth day of its injection. With HysIS, we have 47 operational satellites that are active now in their orbits, meant for applications like communications, earth observation, scientific studies and navigation,” he added.
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