ISRO gearing up for launch of small rocket SSLV on Aug 7

Chennai, Aug 4 (IANS) India's newest rocket, the 34 metre tall and weighing 120 ton Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will lift off from the first launch pad at the Sriharikota rocket port on August 7 at 9.18 a.m. on its maiden flight, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday.

The three staged SSLV-Developmental 1 (SSLV-D1) is primarily powered by solid fuel (total 99.2 ton) and also has a velocity trimming module (VTM) powered by 0.05 ton of liquid fuel for precise injection of satellites.

The rocket with a maximum luggage carrying capacity of 500 kg will be carrying an earth observation satellite-02 (EOS-02) formerly known as Microsatellite-2A weighing about 145 kg.

Just over 12 minutes into its flight, the SSLV-D1 will put into orbit the EOS-2 satellite.

Prior to that, the rocket will coast - moving because of the momentum and not powered by its engines - twice for about four minutes.

The piggyback luggage will be the eight kg AZAADISAT built by 750 students of government schools facilitated by SpaceKidz India.

According to ISRO, the SSLV is a ready to transfer rocket with modular and unified systems with standard interfaces for production by the industry.

The SSLV design drivers are low cost, low turnaround time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch-on-demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements and others, ISRO said.

The commercial arm of ISRO, NewSpace India Ltd plans to transfer the SSLV technology for production in the private sector.

The Indian space agency said the EOS-02 satellite is an experimental optical imaging satellite with high spatial resolution. The objective is to realise and fly an experimental imaging satellite with short turnaround time and showcase launch on demand capability.

According to ISRO, the new technologies realised for the microsat series of spacecrafts include payloads with a common fore optics and metallic primary mirror realised with the limited mass and volume of Microsat Bus.

With the new included in its product lineup, ISRO will have three rockets - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and SSLV.