Congratulations to our space scientists! ISRO successfully launched PSLV C42, putting two UK satellites in orbit, d… https://t.co/weC1zd7UXJ — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1537117350000

ISRO's PSLV successfully launches two British satellites

BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s ( Isro ) workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 44th flight put into orbit two UK earth observation satellites in a textbook launch.Both the satellites together weighed about 889 kg, and the commercial launch was carried out under an arrangement between Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited (SSTL) and Isro’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited.NovaSAR is an S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite intended for forest mapping, land use and ice cover monitoring, flood and disaster monitoring. Its SAR payload has a dedicated maritime mode designed with a very wide swath area (400-km) to enable the monitoring of the marine environment, and will provide direct radar ship detection information simultaneously with AIS ship tracking data to assist with the identification and tracking of sea-going vessels.S1-4 is a high resolution Optical Earth Observation Satellite, used for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and for the disaster monitoring.Just hours before the launch, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSCC) director S Somanath had said: “When I joined Isro in 1985, the PSLV was still on paper, and the only rocket we had was SLV-3, the ASLV was struggling with people ridiculing us and asking when it will reach space. It had earned the moniker of Always Sea Launch Vehicle (ASLV) as it kept failing and landing in water. To see PSLV grow from an idea and to become Isro’s workhorse is a great feeling.”Somanath had told TOI that the rare night launch was at the request of the customer — SSTL — as the satellites needed specific imaging and illumination requirements.The PSLV-C42 , was only the third launch of PSLV after the rare failure it encountered in August last year due to problems in the heat shield. It took off at 10.08pm, the first stage separated about two minutes after that, while the fourth state separated nearly 17 minutes after the take off. The satellites separated 17.44 minutes after the launch before being placed in the desired Sun Synchronous orbit, about 583 km away.This is Isro’s first dedicated commercial launch in several months, and Antrix hopes to increase the frequency of such missions in the future, with the help from industry. While the space agency’s commercial arm does not give out mission-specific earnings, in the three years between April 2015 and March 2018, it earned Rs 5,600 crore.Of this only 10% to 20% came from launch services like Sunday’s, while the most was earned from marketing products and services.Isro presently has 84 major clients using its communication services, including big service providers like Reliance and television groups like Sun Network. And, in the said period, Isro launched 99 satellites — 69 of which were foreign satellites — including several student and university satellites.Isro chairman K Sivan had told TOI earlier that the agency will, in the near future, be able to spare more PSLVs for Antrix. However, this will depend on how reliable the GSLV class of vehicles becomes for Isro.