The Indian Space Research Organization on August 7 will launch its smallest commercial rocket -- SSLV -- to put in orbit two satellites, offering cheap rides to space and eyeing a share in the burgeoning small satellite launch market.
The 34-meter Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is 10 meters shorter than ISRO바카라™s warhorse rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and can put payloads up to 500 kg into 500 km planar orbit. Unlike the PSLV, the SSLV uses solid fuel 바카라“ hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene 바카라“ to fire the three stages of the rocket which takes the payloads to the desired altitude. The liquid-propelled Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) then inserts the satellite into orbit.
In its maiden launch, the SSLV will place in orbit the 145 kg Earth Observation-2 satellite and AzaadiSat, an 8-kg CubeSat designed by 750 girl students from government schools across the country to mark the 75th anniversary of Independence. According to ISRO officials, the SSLV has a low turnaround time and can be assembled within a fortnight, allowing the space agency to provide launch-on-demand service in the fast-growing low earth orbit launch sector.
The SSLV D-1 will soar into the skies at 9:18 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Sunday and place in orbit the two payloads at the end of its 13.2-minute flight. The SSLV is 34 meters in height with a vehicle diameter of two meters and a lift-off mass of 120 tonnes. The PSLV, on the other hand, is 44 meters tall, 2.8 meters in diameter, and has a lift-off mass of 320 tonnes. It has the capacity to put up to 1,800 kg payloads into orbit.
"The SSLV is a ready-to-transfer vehicle with modular and unified systems and with standard interfaces for end-to-end industrial production," an ISRO official said. The key features of SSLV include a booster motor segment with an open joint configuration to minimize segment assembly and launch integration time. It also has a unified interstage joint configuration to enable quick integration and launch, and a miniaturized low-cost avionics system with industrial commercial off-the-shelf components.
The SSLV also has multi-satellite accommodation with a multi-satellite adaptor deck and a digital control system with fully indigenous electro-mechanical actuators.Â
