In the business and science of Space, it is apparently not enough if you just keep building better spacecraft and bigger launch vehicles. The Indian Space Research Organisation says it must also keep improving many other less-known but related systems alongside.

Last month, ISRO Satellite Centre literally rolled out its upgraded Satellite Transportation System or STS. It was used to move the 1,650-kg Astrosat, India's upcoming space observatory, by road to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, some 400 km away in Andhra Pradesh.

An ISRO official said today’s STS, loaded with sensors to track the satellite’s health and protect it from road shocks, is a far cry from the wooden crates of the 1970s.

The astronomy spacecraft was assembled at the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC). At Sriharikota, it will be sent to space in late September along with six small “piggyback” satellites of three foreign customers.

About a month before the launch, ISAC folds the spacecraft up to safely fit it into a suitable STS. It then sends it off on one of its specially made trucks.

Explaining how the transit process itself is getting increasingly complex, the official said: “Earlier, when we transported satellites, the transit checks were mostly about temperature and vibrations. Over time, we improved the monitoring systems during travel by including many sensors. The container temperature, vibration levels, humidity, contamination are all checked constantly to ensure that the spacecraft is not affected by these outside factors.”

While a normal passenger vehicle takes about eight hours to reach Sriharikota, the spacecraft’s well-guarded convoy travels at a slow 20 to 25 kmph, taking more than 24 hours to reach the launch centre.

A few spacecraft engineers also travel alongside and are constantly in touch with the Bengaluru centre and the SDSC and continuously checking the health of the satellite within the STS.

ISAC’s System Integration Group is now designing the next generation of large STSs. They will take in the four-tonne GSAT-11 and a future six-tonne satellite double the present size and measuring around 12 metres x 5.3m x 4.2m.

The STS is a double-walled, metallic, heat-proof structure built to protect the spacecraft, which has many sensitive electronic and mechanical components, from atmospheric heat, dust, rain, humidity, radiation and changes of pressure. It comes with a suspension cradle and a special platform that keeps vibrations and shocks out.