ISRO marked the beginning of 2019 with the successful launch of military satellite Microsat-R and students’ payload Kalamsat on board its PSLV-C44 rocket from the spaceport in Sriharikota on January 24.

The ISRO workhorse blasted off from the first launchpad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11.37 pm at the end of a 28-hour countdown. In a textbook launch, the four-stage PSLV-C44 soared into the clear and starry night sky majestically and injected the 740kg Microsat-R into orbit precisely 13 minutes and 30 seconds later.

ISRO scientists broke into celebration at the mission control centre in Sriharikota, about 130 km from Chennai, as the Microsat-R was released in a 274-km polar sun synchronous orbit, marking another success story for the space agency. Former ISRO chiefs K. Kasturirangan and A.S. Kiran Kumar were among those who witnessed the launch.

Microsat-R, an imaging satellite, is meant for military purposes, but ISRO did not share any details.

Built at a cost of Rs 12 lakh, Kalamsat is an experimental satellite for studying the communication system of nano satellites, which can be useful in many fields, predominantly disaster management.

The PSLV-C44 is ISRO’s first launch in 2019. It was the first mission of a new variant called the PSLV-DL (dual strap-ons). Usually, PSLVs were launched with six strap-ons (boosters). This time, ISRO used only two boosters. With this, the PSLV - a four-stage vehicle with alternating solid and liquid stages - has launched 54 Indian and 269 foreign satellites.

Speaking after the launch, ISRO chairman K. Sivan said PSLV-C44 was not just another rocket. “There are many firsts and innovations in this mission. First of all, a new variant of PSLV with two strap-ons is introduced in this mission to enhance the payload capability beyond the core-alone configuration. Second, the PS4 is made of aluminium tanks in order to reduce the cost of (the) PSLV. Another major change, this is the mission having orbit in the lowest altitude where (the) PSLV has flown so far. Yet another innovation is making PS4 working after it does its function,” Sivan said. He added that for the first time, ISRO placed a satellite - Microsat-R - in a lower orbit, at around 274 km from Earth.

Contributed by college students and members of a Chennai-based organisation called Space Kidz India, Kalamsat is the first to use PS4 (the fourth stage of the vehicle) as a platform to orbit around the Earth.

“We have been working on the project for over six years now. These students are from various backgrounds and the youngest one is studying BSc physics,” said Space Kidz India CEO Srimathy Kesan. Kalamsat is a 10-cm cube, 1.2-kg communication satellite with a life span of two months, making it the lightest ever satellite launched by India, she added.

Congratulating the students for working on Kalamsat, Sivan urged students to bring science experiments to the space agency. “ISRO is an Indian property and open to all students. I request you to bring your science experiments and plug in to PS4. We will launch and you don’t worry,” he said.

Saying that ISRO’s highest priority at present is Gaganyaan, Sivan said the human space mission would be completed by December 2021. “ISRO has taken a major responsibility for placing a man in space by an Indian vehicle launched from Indian soil. It will happen by December 2021,” he said.