Watch: ISRO successfully injects EMISAT satellite, 28 others being ejected

The ISRO has launched a new PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) from Sriharikota on Monday, April 01, 2019. This new PSLV was launched with India’s EMISAT defence satellite, along with 28 other satellites from around the world.

The satellites launched were an electronic intelligence satellite, EMISAT for DRDO (Defence Research Development Organisation), and 28 others, of which 24 are from the US alone, two from Lithuania, and one from Spain and Switzerland each.

The PSLV was launched at 9.27 am on April 01, and after reaching an altitude of 749 km, around 17 minutes into flight, the 436Kg EMISAT satellite was successfully ejected. Post the EMISAT ejection, the other satellites will be put into orbit. The other satellites weigh around 220kg. Once the satellites have been placed into orbit, India would have successfully have launched a total of 297 international satellites till date.

‘This will be followed by bringing the rocket down further to 485 km when the fourth stage/engine will turn into a payload platform carrying three experimental payloads: (a) Automatic Identification System (AIS) from ISRO for Maritime satellite applications capturing messages transmitted from ships (b) Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), India - to assist amateur radio operators in tracking and monitoring position data and (c) Advanced Retarding Potential Analyser for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS) from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) - for the structural and compositional studies of ionosphere, the space agency said’, reported IANS.

The entire mission is said to last around 180 minutes.

“There is an increased demand for satellites from strategic sectors. About six or seven satellites are planned to be built,” a senior official on the condition of anonymity told IANS.

India will also be launching two more satellites around July-August using the new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) rocket from ISRO.

The newer PSLV-QL rocket is a 44.5 metre tall rocket and has four strap-on motors unlike the older PSLV which has six strap-on motors. On January 24, the ISRO flew a PSLV with two strap-on motors while in March, it had four strap-on motors, reported IANS. ISRO has two more PSLV variants -- Core Alone (without any strap-on motors) and a larger PSLV-XL rocket that also uses 6 strap-on motors.

(With inputs from IANS, ANI)