PSLV - C28 LAUNCHED: ANOTHER MILESTONE OF ISRO

PSLV - C28 LAUNCHED: ANOTHER MILESTONE OF ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed into orbit five British satellites using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C28, in a landmark mission.About PSLV C28

• It is a PSLV-XL version
• Lifted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh.
• It comprised of new designs consisting of circular launcher adaptor i.e. L-adaptor and a triangular deck called Multiple Satellite Adapter-Version 2 (MSA-V2).

About Payloads

• Among five payloads, three are mini-satellites DMC3-1, DMC3-2 and DMC3-3, each weighing 447 kg whereas two are auxiliary satellites, - CBNT-1 micro-satellite (91kg) and De-orbitSail (7kg).
• Total weight of all 5 satellites was 1,440 kg
• The three DMC3 and the CBNT-1 satellites are built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.
• The De-OrbitSail is built by Surrey Space Centre.
• These satellites can image any target on the Earth's surface every day.
• Major application areas include surveying the resources on earth and its environment, managing urban infrastructure and monitoring disasters.
• De-OrbitSail is an experimental nano satellite. It will be used for the demonstration of large thin membrane sail and drag deorbiting using this sail
• The life of the mission is seven years.

Facts

• This is the heaviest commercial luggage carried by a PSLV rocket till date with the five satellites.
• Earlier successful launches by ISRO -- Mars Orbiter Mission which was launched in Nov 5, 2013 and Chandrayaan-1 launched in Oct 22, 2008 were with similar PSLV-XL variants.
• It was PSLV’s overall 30th flight and 29th consecutive successful launch and 9th flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration.
• Since 1999 till date, India has launched 40 satellites of other countries with its PSLV rocket and with today's successful launch of the five British satellites; the tally has now risen to 45.
• With this, India has successfully launched 45 satellites of 18 different foreign countries successfully in space since 1999.
• These countries are Germany, South Korea, Indonesia, Belgium, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Algeria, Singapore, Luxembourg, France and Austria.
• It was ISRO’s second launch in year 2015, the previous launch was of navigation satellite, IRNSS-1D in March, 2015.
• ISRO Chairman is Kiran Kumar.