ISRO’s SSLV-D2 mission injected three satellites into an intended circular orbit on February 10. 

The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D1) had failed during its maiden launch in August last year. With the earlier SSLV not living up to the expectations, corrective measures were put in its successor.

Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)

• Indian Space Research Organisation developed Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to cater the launch of up to 500 kg satellites to Low Earth Orbits on ‘launch-on-demand’ basis.

SSLV is a three-stage vehicle with all solid propulsion stages and liquid propulsion based velocity trimming module (VTM) as terminal stage. 

• SSLV is capable of launching mini, micro or nanosatellites (10 to 500 kg mass) to a 500 km planar orbit. 

• It provides low-cost access to space on demand basis. It offers low turn-around time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, launch-on-demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements, etc.

Highlights of SSLV-D2 mission:

• The 34-metre tall SSLV lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 9:18 am, carrying with it the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-07), besides Janus-1 and AzaadiSAT-2 satellites. 

• The rocket placed the satellites into the intended 450-km circular orbit after a 15-odd minute flight. 

• EOS-07 is a 156.3 kg satellite which has been designed, developed and realised by ISRO. New experiments include mm-Wave Humidity Sounder and Spectrum Monitoring Payload.

• JANUS-1, a 10.2 kg satellite, built by Antaris, USA is a technology demonstrator, smart satellite mission, based on Antaris software platform. JANUS-1 demonstrates modular bus and multi-tenant payloads with onboard edge computing. 

• AzaadiSAT-2, weighing about 8.2 kg is a combined effort of about 750 girl students across India guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai. It aims to demonstrate amateur radio communication capabilities, measure radiation levels in space, etc.

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