SSLV-D2 - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News:
SSLV-D2 will lift off from Sriharikota on February 10
What's in the news?
● The
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will undertake the second development flight of the Small
Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from Sriharikota.
Key takeaways:
● SSLV-D2
will lift off precisely at 09:18 hours IST from the first launch pad at the
Satish Dhawan Space Centre-SHAR, Sriharikota.
● The
vehicle is intended to inject ISRO’s
EOS-07, U.S.-based firm Antaris's Janus-1 and Chennai-based space start-up
Space Kidz’s AzaadiSAT-2 satellites into a 450-km circular orbit in its 15
minutes flight.
SSLV-D2 Mission:
Objectives:
● To
design and develop payload instruments compatible with micro satellite bus and new technologies that are required for
future operational satellites.
● It
would also design and develop a micro satellite accommodating new technology
payloads in a quick turn-around time.
Launch:
It will launch the satellites into 450-km circular orbit.
EOS-07:
● EOS-07
is a Earth observation satellite -
156.3 kg satellite designed, developed and realized by the ISRO.
● New
experiments include mm-Wave Humidity Sounder and Spectrum Monitoring Payload.
Janus-1:
● Janus-1
is a technology demonstrator, smart
satellite mission based on Antaris software platform and weighing around 10.2
kg.
AzaadiSAT-2:
● AzaadiSAT-2
is a combined effort of about 750 girl
students across India guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai and weighing
around 8.7 kg.
SSLV:
● SSLV
is a three-stage all solid vehicle
and has a capability to launch up to 500
kg satellite mass into 500 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 300 kg to Sun
Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
● It
is perfectly suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and
supports multiple orbital drop-offs.
Significance of SSLV:
● The
SSLV can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg to a low earth orbit while the
tried and tested PSLV can launch satellites weighing in the range of 1000 kg.
● The
SSLV is intended to cater to a market for the launch of small satellites into
low earth orbits which has emerged in recent years on account of the need for developing countries, private
corporations, and universities for small satellites.
● The
SSLV is the smallest vehicle at 110-ton
mass at ISRO. It will take only 72 hours to integrate, unlike the 70 days
taken now for a launch vehicle.
● Only
six people will be required to do the job, instead of 60 people. The entire job
will be done in a very short time.
● The
cost will be only around Rs 30 crore.
It will be an on-demand vehicle.
Go back to basics:
Launch Vehicles:
SLV:
● In
the space transportation domain, the commissioning of the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) project in the early 1970s was
the first indigenous experimental satellite launch vehicle.
● As
a four stage, all solid, launch vehicle,
SLV-3 had its successful launch in July 1980, thrusting India into the select
league of six countries with the capability to launch satellites on their own.
ASLV:
● The
ASLV- Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle
project, in the early 1980s, was the next step of evolution in launch
vehicle technology.
● ASLV
could carry small satellites, weighing up to 150 kg, to lower earth orbits.
PSLV:
● PSLV
is third generation launch vehicle indigenously designed and developed by ISRO.
● PSLV’s
first launch was in 1994, and it has
been ISRO’s main rocket ever since. Today’s PSLV, however, is vastly improved
and several times more powerful than the ones used in the 1990s.
● It
is one of the world's most reliable and versatile workhorse (launch vehicles)
with over 50 consecutively successful missions.
● It
is a four stage launch vehicle and
first Indian rocket to be equipped with liquid stages.
● It
can take up to 1,750 kg of payload to Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits (SSPO) of
600 km altitude and payload of 1,425 kg to Geosynchronous and Geostationary
orbits.
● Four
Stages:
○ The
uppermost stage or fourth stage of PSLV comprises two Earth storable liquid engines.
○ The
third stage is a solid rocket motor
that provides upper stages high thrust after the atmospheric phase of the
launch.
○ Second
stage of PSLV uses an Earth storable liquid
rocket engine, known as Vikas engine, developed by Liquid Propulsion Systems
Centre.
○ The
first stage uses the S139 solid rocket motor that is augmented by 6 solid strap-on boosters.
● It
successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter
Spacecraft in 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively.
GSLV:
● GSLV
is a much more powerful rocket, meant to carry heavier satellites much deeper
into space.
● It
is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the
ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer
Orbits.
● It
is a three-stage vehicle with a
lift-off mass of 420tonnes.
● Stages
in GSLV:
○ The
first stage comprises an S139 solid
booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with
40-tonne propellant.
○ The
second stage is a liquid engine
carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant.
○ The
third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic
Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.
● GSLV
Mk-III versions have made ISRO entirely self-sufficient for launching its
satellites. Before this, it used to depend on the European Arianne launch
vehicle to take its heavier satellites into space
● Till
date, GSLV rockets have carried out 18 missions, of which four ended in
failure.
SSLV:
● The
Small Satellites Launching Vehicles (SSLVs) used for commercial launching of small satellites is under incubation.
● It
is a small-lift launch vehicle being developed by the ISRO with payload
capacity to deliver:
○ 600
kg to Low Earth Orbit (500 km)
○ 300
kg to Sun-synchronous Orbit (500 km)
● It
would help launch small satellites, with the capability to support multiple
orbital drop-offs.
● In
future a dedicated launch pad in Sriharikota called Small Satellite Launch
Complex (SSLC) will be set up.
RSLV:
● The
future rockets are meant to be reusable. Only a small part of the rocket would
be destroyed during the mission.
● The
bulk of it would re-enter the earth’s atmosphere and land very much like an
airplane, and can be used in future missions.
● Reusable
rockets would cut down on costs and energy, and also reduce space debris, which is becoming a serious problem because of
the large number of launches.
● Fully-reusable
rockets are still to be developed, but partially-reusable launch vehicles are
already in use.
● ISRO
has also developed a reusable rocket, called RLV-TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator) which has
had a successful test flight in 2016.