The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its PSLV-C53/DS-EO mission from Sriharikota on June 30 at 6 p.m. Following that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the PSLV C53 mission had reached a new milestone by launching two Indian startups into space.
PM Modi further congratulated the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for enabling this venture. He further said, “Confident that many more Indian companies will reach Space in near future.”
The four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket lifted off at 6:02 pm IST from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. Three satellites from Singapore were the primary payload whereas payloads from two Indian startups Dhruva Space and Digantara also shared a ride to low-Earth orbit (LEO).
In his post-mission address, ISRO Chairman S Somanath congratulated the team and expressed hope for more milestones for NSIL’s customers. He also thanked Dhruva Space and Digantara for sending their payload into orbit and wished them luck in their future endeavours. The SDSC’s viewing gallery was packed with citizens who had come to witness the rocket launch.
ISRO’s PSLV lifts off successfully
The 44.4-metre PSLV lifted off with 4,800 kilonewtons force and pushed the rocket to an altitude of 50 kilometres in 108.2 seconds. After the specified time, the first stage separated from the second stage, which pushed the rocket to an altitude of 174 km with 800 kilonewtons of force after a 150-second burn. The PSLV rocket has four stages, each of which separates from the others after reaching a certain altitude.
The PSLV-C53 mission was the second dedicated private mission of New Space India Limited (NSIL), a state-owned company under the Department of Space. The first commercial mission was Amazonia-1 for Brazil on the PSLV along with 18 co-passenger satellites on February 28 in 2021.
Primary payload, DS-EO satellite
The primary payload was the DS-EO satellite, along with the NeuSAR satellite, and the Scoob-1 satellite of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The DS-EO 365 kg was first installed at an altitude of 570 km measured from the equator. The Electro-Optic, multi-spectral satellite will provide full-colour images for land classification, and serve “Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief needs.”
The second satellite to be injected was the 155 kg NeuSAR, Singapore’s first small commercial satellite carrying a SAR (synthetic aperture radar) payload. ISRO said that the speciality of this satellite is that it can provide images day and night and under all weather conditions. The 2.8 kg Scoob-1 satellite was the third to be installed into orbit. It is the first satellite in the Student Satellite Series (S3-I), which is a student training program from the Satellite Research Centre (SaRC) at Singapore’s NTU School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
