Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), is an expendable launch system developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially viable only from Russia. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The PSLV has launched 41 satellites (19 Indian and 22 from other countries) into a variety of orbits to date.

PSLV costs 17 million USD flyaway cost for each launch.

The PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage is one of the largest solid-fuel rocket boosters in the world and carries 138 tonnes of Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) bound propellant with a diameter of 2.8 m.

The second stage employs the Vikas engine and carries 41.5 tonnes of liquid propellant – Unsymmetrical Di-Methyl Hydrazine (UDMH) as fuel and Nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) as oxidizer.

The third stage uses 7 tonnes of HTPB-based solid propellant and produces a maximum thrust of 324 kN.

The fourth and the terminal stage of PSLV has a twin engine configuration using liquid propellant. With a propellant loading of 2 tonnes (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine as fuel + Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen as oxidiser), each of these engines generates a maximum thrust of 7.4 kN.

The mission lifted the veil of despondency that had fallen over the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after the failure of the GSLV-D3 with an indigenous cryogenic stage in April last year and of the GSLV-F06 with a Russian cryogenic engine in December.

Mission Director P. Kunhikrishnan praised “the excellent performance” of the rocket's four stages and their sub-systems.

The ResourceSat-2 is intended to continue the remote sensing data services and to provide data with enhanced multispectral and spatial coverage. ResourceSat-2 also carries an additional payload known as AIS (Automatic Identification System) from COMDEV, Canada as an experimental payload for ship surveillance.

The C16 launch also included the first Singapore-built satellite, the X-Sat which is a mini-satellite project undertaken as a collaboration among the Nanyang Technological University and different organisations within Singapore.

The third satellite was a joint Indo-Russian stellar and atmospheric satellite mission named YouthSat, developed with the participation of university students