ISRO's first SSLV mission fails, satellites placed in wrong orbit

Tags: Science and Technology

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 7 August placed its first Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) satellites in the wrong orbit.

Important facts

• After this the earth observation satellite and AzadiSat satellite are “no longer usable”.

• SSLV has placed the satellites on an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one.

• When satellites are placed in such an orbit, they cannot stay there for long and come down.

• SSLV-D1 placed the satellites into 356 km x 76 km elliptical orbit instead of 356 km circular orbit. 

• The space agency said a committee would analyze why it failed and ISRO would soon be back with SSLV-D2.

• SSLV had suffered 'data loss' in its terminal phase, after performing "as expected" in all phases.

EOS-02 

• Earth observation satellite EOS-02 and co-passenger student satellite AzadiSat are important payloads for SSLV.

• EOS-02 is an experimental optical remote sensing satellite and has high spatial resolution.

• It aims to realize and fly an experimental imaging satellite with a short turnaround time and demonstrate launch-on-demand capability.

• EOS-02 belongs to the family of microsatellite series of spacecraft.

 AzaadiSAT

• It is a 8U CubeSat weighing around 8 kilograms. 

• It carries 75 different types of payloads each weighing around 50 grams. 

• The Guidance for manufacturing these payloads was provided to girl students from rural areas of India.

• The payload has been integrated by the student team of 'Space Kidz India'.

• The ground system developed by 'Space Kids India' will be used to receive data from this satellite.

What is SSLV?

• The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is 34 metres long, which is about 10 metres less than PSLV.

• Its vehicle diameter is two metres as compared to PSLV's 2.8 metres.

Objectives of SSLV

• To provide inputs on thermal anomalies for ancillary applications in the fields of geo-environmental studies, forestry, hydrology, agriculture, soil and coastal studies etc.

• To create greater synergy between the government space sector and private Indian industries and institutions.