Country's space ambitions boosted as Italian research satellite is sent into orbit
India's move into the commercial space market has received a boost with its launch of Italy's Agile astronomical research satellite, the first foreign spacecraft to be carried as a primary payload on the country's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The 350kg (770lb) satellite, built by Italy's Carlo Gavazzi Space, was launched on 23 April from the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota, off India's eastern coast. The PSLV also launched ISRO's 185kg Advanced Avionics Module to test mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems for future launch vehicles.
The PSLV, which had already launched six small foreign satellites as piggyback payloads, is being promoted as a cost-effective vehicle for the emerging market to launch satellites weighing up to 600kg, a niche that the major US and European launch providers have abandoned. Bangalore-based Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, is reported to have charged the Italian space agency around $11 million for the launch.
According to Antrix, the PSLV has been booked for piggy-back launches of the 100kg-class X-Sat remote-sensing satellite for Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and six 1-5kg nano-satellites forming part of the NLS-4 mission co-ordinated by Canada's Toronto University.
The Agile mission was the first to use the launch vehicle without its usual six strap-on first-stage boosters. Because of the light payload and low orbital inclination, the configuration was modified to use only the core vehicle. The liquid-propellant loading in the fourth stage was reduced from the normal 2t to 1.6t. The resulting vehicle weighed 230t compared with its standard 295t.
ISRO, meanwhile, is developing an improved version of the PSLV with a high-performance strap-on motor, the PSOM-XL, with 12.4t of propellant compared with 9t in the current motor. The PSOM-XL will increase the PSLV's payload capability from the present 1,450kg to 1,600kg and will be used in future missions including the launch of India's first Moon probe, Chadrayaan-1, in 2008.
Bangalore-based ISRO is also planning to develop a three-stage version of the PSLV capable of placing a 1,900kg satellite into Sun-synchronous orbit. Originally designed as a workhorse to launch India's IRS series of 1t-class of remote-sensing satellites into polar/Sun-synchronous orbit, the PSLV was first launched in October 1994. The Agile mission was its 11th flight.
Source: Flight International
