ISRO creates history with PSLV-C35 launch

Sathish Dhawan Space Reserch Centre, Sriharikota: For the 1st time ISRO was able to put 8 satellites in 2 different orbits during a single launch. PSLV-C35 was launched on Monday at 9:12 am from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at ISRO’s Sriharikota facility. The 5 foreign satellites were ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B, ALSAT-1N from Algeria, NLS-19 from Canada and Pathfinder-1 from USA.

After the lift-off at 0912 hrs (9:12 am) IST from the First Launch Pad with the ignition of the 1st stage, the subsequent important flight events, namely, strap-on ignitions and separations, first stage separation, second stage ignition, payload fairing separation, second stage separation, third stage ignition and separation, fourth stage ignition and cut-off, took place as planned.

After a flight of 16 minutes 56 seconds, the vehicle achieved a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit of 724 km inclined at an angle of 98.1 degree to the equator. Thirty seven seconds later the primary satellite SCATSAT-1 was separated from the PSLV 4th stage. After separation, the 2 solar arrays of SCATSAT-1 satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will begin to provide weather related services using its scatterometer payload.

After the successful separation of SCATSAT-1, the PSLV-C35 mission continued carrying the 7 co-passenger satellites over the south polar region and then started ascending towards the northern hemisphere. These 7 were launched in a predetermined sequence in the 670-km altitude polar orbit.

According to ISRO this was the 36th consecutively successful mission for the PSLV and was the longest of the PSLV missions conducted till date lasting 2 hours 15 minutes and 33 seconds after lift-off. The primary payload of the PSLV was India’s 371-kg SCATSAT-1 satellite for weather monitoring.

Of the 7 co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C35, two – PRATHAM weighing 10 kg and PISAT weighing 5.25 kg – were built with the involvement of students from IIT-Bombay and PES University, Bangalore and its consortium, respectively.

The success of this launch boosts ISRO’s credentials as one of the leading commercial carriers for satellite launches globally. ISRO draws majority of its revenues from satellite launch services by its commercial arm– Antrix Corporation. The total number of satellites launched by ISRO’s PSLV has now reached 121, of which 42 are Indian and the remaining 79 are foreign.