POEM
- SCI & TECH
News: ISRO’s ‘zero orbital debris’ milestone
What's
in the news?
●
ISRO’s
PSLV-C58/XPoSat mission successfully deployed the XPoSat
satellite and converted the PSLV’s last stage into the POEM-3 module, leaving
no debris in Earth’s orbit.
PSLV
Orbital Experimental Module (POEM):
●
The PSLV Orbital Experimental Module is a
platform that will help perform in-orbit experiments using the final stage of
the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Developed
by
-
the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
Backdrop:
●
It was used for the first time in the
PSLV-C53 mission in June 2022.
●
ISRO had POEM orbit the earth to perform
in-orbit scientific experiments with various payloads onboard.
Working:
●
POEM is powered by solar panels mounted on the fuel tank of the rocket’s
fourth stage and a lithium-ion battery.
●
It has a navigation, guidance, and control (NGC) system to stabilise its
altitude along with helium control thrusters.
●
The NGC system has four Sun sensors, a
magnetometer, and gyroscopes. It also has a telecommand system to communicate
with the ground station.
●
It
communicates to ISRO’s NavIC satellite constellation for navigation.
Earlier
Use of PS4 Rocket Junk:
●
ISRO first demonstrated the capability of
using PS4 as an orbital platform in 2019 with the PSLV-C44 mission that
injected Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2 satellites into their designated orbits.
●
The fourth stage in that mission was kept
alive as an orbital platform for space-based experiments.
Achievement
of POEM-3:
●
ISRO’s PSLV C-58 mission successfully
launched the XPoSat satellite into a 650
km orbit and converted its fourth stage into the POEM-3 module at 350 km
for experiments.
●
It features nine payloads. POEM-3 completed 400 orbits and conducted several
experiments over 25 days.
●
After two months, POEM-3 re-entered
Earth’s atmosphere on March 21, 2024, disintegrating successfully with all
objectives met.