ISRO launches EMISAT: India Monday launched an advance intelligence satellite EMISAT and 28 other nano satellite into space by using a new variant of ist PSLV-QL rocket, the national space agency ISRO said in a statement.
These satellites were launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.
The new PSLV-QL rocket used by ISRO is different from earlier versions as it has four strap on motors giving it more power.
The PSLV-C45 lifted off from Sriharikota’s second launch pad at around 9.27 am in the morning and injected EMISAT into a 748 km sun-synchronous polar orbit, 17 minutes and 12 seconds after the liftoff.
After separation, the two solar arrays of EMISAT were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite.
ISRO said: “In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration.”
Following the separation of EMISAT, the vehicle’s fourth stage engines were restarted twice to place the 28 international customer satellites precisely into a sun-synchronous orbit of 504 km height.
“The last customer satellite was placed into its designated orbit 1 hour and 55 minutes after lift-off,” said the ISRO in a statement.
About 3 hours after lift-off, the fourth stage (PS4) of the vehicle was moved to a lower circular orbit of 485 km after two restarts to establish it as an orbital platform for carrying out experiments with its three payloads.
READ ALSO: Maiden midair refueling of Tejas aircraft conducted successfully
EMISAT is a satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite-2 bus weighing about 436 kg. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement.
ALSO READ: Mission Shakti: India destroys live satellite in low earth orbit
The 28 international customer satellites are mainly from four countries: Lithuania (2), Spain (1), Switzerland (1) and USA (24). The combined weight of these satellites is 220 kilograms.
ISRO Satellite Launch: This time Indian Space Research Organisation used a new version PSLV rocket called PSLV-QL to send EMISAT satellite.
