Science & Technology
50th PSLV Launch
- 12 Dec 2019
- 3 min read
Why in News
Recently, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C48) marked its 50th launch by injecting India’s advanced radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1.
- PSLV-C48 also injected 9 other customer satellites from Japan, Italy, Israel and the U.S.A. into their intended orbits.
- This was 75th launch vehicle mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
RISAT-2BR1
- The 628 kg RISAT-2BR1, is placed into a 576-km orbit at an inclination of 37 degrees.
- It is the second satellite in the RISAT-2B series and along with the CARTOSAT-3, it is the part of 'spy' satellites.
- These satellites will keep a check on infiltration by allowing round-the-clock surveillance across the border.
- It has a life of five years.
- RISAT-2BR1 is expected to bolster the country’s border monitoring measures besides aiding in disaster management, agriculture and tracking forest cover.
- It is equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that can take pictures of the earth both during the day and night, irrespective of the cloud conditions.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India.
- It is a four-staged launch vehicle with first and third stage using solid rocket motors and second and fourth stages using liquid rocket engines.
- It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
- Initially, PSLV had a carrying capacity of 850 kg but has been enhanced to 1.9 tonnes.
- The PSLV has helped take payloads into almost all the orbits in space including Geo-Stationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), the Moon, Mars and would soon be launching a mission to the Sun.
- Between 1994 and 2019, the PSLV launched 50 Indian satellites and 222 foreign satellites for over 70 international customers from 20 countries.
- It has a history of successful launches of payloads that include Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM) and the space recovery mission, etc.
- The PSLV has failed only twice in its history — the maiden flight of the PSLV D1 in 1993 and the PSLV C-39 in 2017.
