SV Krishna Chaitanya By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: On Friday, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch PSLV-C40 and everyone’s focus is on the launcher and the primary payload Cartosat-2 series satellite since it’s the first mission after previous failure in August.

However, there is another significance attached to the launch. The national space agency will be entering into dynamic micro and nano satellite manufacturing market.

India’s workhorse PSLV will carry 30 co-passenger satellites, of which 28 are from Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, the UK and US. The remaining two co-passengers are desi payloads built by ISRO, including a 100 kg micro-satellite and 11 kg nano satellite. Both are technology demonstrators and scientists say would set tone for further innovations and experiments.

The total weight of all the 31 satellites carried onboard PSLV-C40 is about 1323 kg. Thirty satellites will be first launched into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) while microsat, built by ISRO, will be placed in a 359 km polar SSO after bringing down the orbital height by twice restarting the PSLV fourth stage. The launch is scheduled from First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

Speaking to Express, Tapan Misra, Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC), said indigenisation and miniaturisation have been the prime endeavor of SAC. These are small satellites with small volume and low power requirements. These satellites find usage in remote sensing and disaster monitoring. It will provide a low-cost development platform to carry out experiments and technology demonstration.

“Having a large number of small satellites, instead of a few heavy ones, makes sense as they could cover the same piece of ground more frequently - say, every 15 minutes - for collecting imagery. This could spell a revolution in the way satellites are used - whether it is for helping fishermen to identify catches, keeping track of crops or detecting natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. Similarly, increasing miniaturisation in electronics makes redundant the use of heavy satellites for telecommunications and remote sensing. Smaller satellites deliver better coverage at a fraction of the cost,” Misra said.

He said ISRO was looking at a major shift. “Our aim is to build heavier launchers and lighter payloads, which give us distinctive advantage in carrying capacity. Tomorrow’s launch would be one of the initial steps towards achieving this goal.”

ISRO said these technology demonstrators are fore runners for future satellites of this series. Misra said in February last year two nano satellites built by ISRO were launched, but the payload operations were not satisfactory. “This time, Indian Nano Satellite (INS)-1C will be carrying Miniature Multispectral Technology Demonstration Payload from SAC. Data sent by this camera can be utilised for topographical mapping, vegetation monitoring, aerosol scattering studies and cloud studies,” he said.