History beckons ISRO with maiden SSLV-D1/EOS-2 mission
   Date :07-Aug-2022

SSLV D1 EOS 2 mission
 
 
CHENNAI :
 
THE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on the cusp of making history as the space agency is all set to embark on its maiden Small Satellite Launch Vehicle mission, ferrying an earth observation satellite and a student satellite from the spaceport in Sriharikota, about 135 kms from here on Sunday. After carving a niche on successful mission launches through its trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV), Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV), ISRO would be making its maiden launch of a small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV), which would be used to deploy satellites in the low orbit earth. Scientists at the ISRO have been engaged in developing small launch vehicles over the last few weeks to meet the demand for such small satellites, which weigh upto 500 kgs and can be injected into the 500 kms low earth orbit.
 
The SSLV is 34m tall, about 10m less than the PSLV and it has a vehicle diameter of two metres as compared to 2.8 metres of PSLV. SSLV has a lift off mass of 120 tonne while PSLV has 320 tonnes, which can carry payloads upto 1,800 kgs. On Sunday’s mission, SSLV would carry Earth Observation Satellite -02 and a co-passenger satellite AzaadiSAT -- developed by the student team of ‘Space Kidz India’. According to ISRO sources, the countdown compared to other missions which would be 25 hour is reduced to five hours and was expected to commence on Sunday at 4.18 hours for the lift off scheduled at 9.18 am from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
 
The significance of SSLV is that it has the fourth stage which carries liquid propulsion based Velocity Trimming Module to place the satellites into the intended orbit. The rocket comprises solid fuel to fire the first three stages. The Earth Observation Satellite designed by ISRO, offers advanced optical remote sensing operating in infra-red band with high spatial resolution.