10 Things You Should Know About Today’s ISRO PSLV-C28 Satellite Launch

It’s almost time for us to stand up and salute the folks working at ISRO… again! This time, for their excellent work on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) – C28. At 9:58 PM today, the satellite is set to mark one of the biggest commercial launches ever.

Now, wouldn’t it be cool to know more about this launch? Here’s what it’s all about:

1. PSLV-C28 is the heaviest commercial vehicle so far, all set to take off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, in Andhra Pradesh.

Sriharikota is 90 Kms from Chennai.

2. The s atellite’s overall lift-off mass is a whooping 1440kgs.

3. The lau nch will take 3 identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites to a 647km sun-synchronous orbit; each of which is 3 meters in height and 447kgs in weight.

4. In addition to this, 2 technology demonstrator satellites: a 9kg earth observation micr o-satellite called CBNT-1 and a 7kg technology demonstration nanosatellite called De-OrbitSai; mount the DCM3 as auxiliaries.

5. That’s 5 satellites together! Among them, they can easily photograph any target on Earth’s surface.

6. They’re phased with a separation of 120° between them and will be launched into a single Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) plane.

This is what the LEO looks like.

7. According to ISRO’s website, their major application areas include surveying earth and its environment and resources, managing urban infrastructure and monitoring of disasters.

8. The DMC3 satellites and CBNT-1 were built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL).

9. De-OrbitSail was put together by the Surrey Space Centre in the UK.

10. This is PSLV’s thirtieth optical earth observation flight and ninth in high-end ‘XL’ configuration.

Phew! Much effort has gone into making this a success. Let’s hope it brings more glory to ISRO and India. The countdown begins now…