The 'PSLV' or 'Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle' is an
expendable launch system operated by the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow
India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into
sun synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially viable only from
Russia. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into
geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
Layout
The PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world and carries 138 metric tonnes of
Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) binded propellant with a diameter of 2.8 m. The motor case is made of
maraging steel. The booster develops a maximum thrust of about 4,430 kN. Six strap-on motors, four of which are ignited on the ground, augment the first stage thrust. Each of these solid propellant strap-on motors carries nine metric tonne of HTPB propellant and produces 677 kN thrust.
Pitch and
yaw control of the PSLV during the thrust phase of the solid motor is achieved by injection of an aqueous solution of
strontium perchlorate in the nozzle to constitute Secondary Injection Thrust Vector Control System (SITVC). The injection is stored in two cylindrical aluminum tanks strapped to the solid rocket motor and pressurized with nitrogen. SITVC in two strap-on motors is for
roll control augmentation.
The second stage employs the Vikas engine and carries 41.5 metric tonne (40 metric tonne till C-5 mission) of liquid propellant — Unsymmetrical Di-Methyl Hydrazine (UDMH) as fuel and Nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) as oxidizer. It generates a maximum thrust of 800 kN (724 till C-5 mission). Pitch & yaw control is obtained by hydraulically gimbaled engine (±4°) and two hot gas reaction control for roll.
The third stage uses 7 metric tonne of HTPB-based solid propellant and produces a maximum thrust of 324 kN. It has as Kevlar-polyamide fiber case and a submerged nozzle equipped with a flex-bearing-seal gimbaled nozzle (±2°) thrust-vector engine for pitch & yaw control. For roll control it uses the RCS (Reaction Control System) of fourth stage.
The fourth and the terminal stage of PSLV has a twin engine configuration using liquid propellant. With a propellant loading of 2 metric tonne (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine as fuel + Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen as oxidiser), each of these engines generates a maximum thrust of 7.4 kN. Engine is gimbaled (±3°) for pitch, yaw & roll control and for control during the coast phase uses on-off RCS. PSLV-C4 used a new lightweight carbon composite payload adapter to enables greater GTO payload capability.
Variants
Operational
; PSLV-CA
The PSLV-C8 launch used a "Core Alone" (CA) launch vehicle. This variant uses the core stages without any strap-on boosters.
[1]. It currently has capability to launch 1,100 kg to 622 km SSO.
[2]
Under development / Proposed
; PSLV-XL
On
29 December,
2005, ISRO successfully tested an improved version of the strap-on booster for the PSLV. It will be used for future PSLV flights, including the launches of
Chandrayaan-1 and the
RISAT Radar Imaging Satellite.
[3]. The payload capability for this variant will be 1600 kg compared to 1450 kg for the current one
[4].
; PSLV-HP
As reported on the website of
The New Indian Express newspaper (April 26, 2007), PSLV project director N Narayanamoorthy spoke of another version being planned called the PSLV-HP, standing for ‘high performance.’ It will have strap-ons motors, but the payload capability will be raised to 2000 kg. The HP version will be used to launch a constellation of seven navigation satellites between 2010 and 2012. Among other things, the efficiency of the stage 4 engine will be improved in this version.
[5].
; Three-stage PSLV
ISRO is also considering the development of a three-stage version of the rocket (with the second stage of the four-stage version removed) which will be capable of placing 500 kg to LEO.
[5][4][2]
Launches
After some delays, the first launch of the PSLV occurred on
20 September 1993. Although all main engines performed as expected, an altitude control problem was reported in the second and third stages. After this initial setback, ISRO met complete success with the third developmental launch in 1996. Further successful launches followed in 1997, 1999, and 2001.
In September 2002, the 1060 kg KALPANA-1 was launched by PSLV-C4 into GTO. On
17 October 2003, the 1360 kg
Earth observing ResourceSat1 was launched by PSLV-C5.
On
May 5,
2005, PSLV-C6 launched two satellites into orbit;
CARTOSAT-I a stereoscopic
Earth observation satellite with
cartographic applications, weighing 1560 kg, and
HAMSAT providing satellite based radio service for
amateur radio operators, weighing 42.5 kg into a high
polar orbit (632 x 621 km).
PSLV will continue be the work horse of the ISRO for its launches, especially for
LEO satellites and the
Chandrayaan Projects. It has undergone several improvements with each subsequent version, especially those involving thrust, efficiency and weight.
On
January 10,
2007, the PSLV-C7 carried four satellites - the 680 kg Indian remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2, the 550 kg
Space Capsule Recovery Equipment (SRE-1), Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT (60kg) and Argentina's 6kg nanosatellite called NANO PEHUENSAT-1 into orbit.
[9]
On
April 23,
2007, the PSLV-C8 carried its first commercial satellite, the Agile for the Italian Space Agency as main payload with the Advanced Avionics Module as its secondary payload Successfully
[10]. This was ISRO's first purely commercial launch. All launches of foreign satellites before this had been of micro-satellites or light weight satellites piggybacked on the PSLV, with an Indian satellite being the primary payload. The PSLV-C8 was also launched without its regular 6 strap-on boosters. Another first for ISRO was the inclination of 2.5
o (equatorial orbit)
[11][12], which made launch comparatively riskier than usual.
Launch log
| Vehicle | Date of Launch | Launch Location | Payload | Mission Status |
| D1 | 20 September,1993 | Sriharikota | IRS 1E | Failure; Software error causes vehicle crash in to the Bay of Bengal (700 seconds after take off), Developmental Flight |
| D2 | 15 October,1994 | Sriharikota | IRS P2 | Success, Developmental Flight |
| D3 | 21 March,1996 | Sriharikota | IRS P3 | Success, Developmental Flight |
| C1 | 29 September,1997 | Sriharikota | IRS 1D | Partial Failure; Suboptimal injection of Satellite. |
| C2 | 26 May, 1999 | Sriharikota | OceanSat 1, DLR-Tubsat, KitSat 3 | Success |
| C3 | 22 October, 2001 | Sriharikota | TES, Proba[2], BIRD | Success |
| C4 | 12 September,2002 | Sriharikota | METSAT 1 (Kalpana 1) | Success; Satellite injected into a GTO. |
| C5 | 17 October,2003 | Sriharikota | ResourceSat 1 | Success |
| C6 | 5 May,2005 | Sriharikota
★ | CartoSat 1, HAMSAT | Success |
| C7 | 10 January 2007 | Sriharikota | CartoSat 2, SRE, LAPAN-TUBSAT, PEHUENSAT-1 | Success |
| C8 | 23 April 2007 | Sriharikota
★ | AGILE, AAM | Success |
| 'Planned launches' |
| C9 | September 2007 | Sriharikota | Cartosat-2A, Polaris(Israel), CanX-2, AAU Cubsat-2, Cute 1.7, APD-2, Compass 1, Delfi C3, Seeds-2[13][14] | Planned |
| C10 | October 2007 | Sriharikota
★ | OceanSat-2 | Planned |
Foreign payloads launched by PSLV
Trivia
★ The PSLV-C7 used a device called
Dual Launch Adopter for the first time to launch four satellites.
[15]
★ The PSLV-C7 used for the first time a video imaging system on board to take pictures of the separation of the first three satellites from the fourth stage of rocket.
[16]
References
★
★ means Second Launch Pad.
Notes
1.
PSLV Successfully Launches Italian Satellite
2. ISRO Annual Report 2006 - Space Transportation
3.
New Solid Propellant Motor to Increase PSLV Capability
4. ISRO Annual Report 2007 - Space Transportation
5. PSLV to get new versions
6. PSLV to get new versions
7. ISRO Annual Report 2007 - Space Transportation
8. ISRO Annual Report 2006 - Space Transportation
9. PSLV-C7 successfully lifts off
10. [1]
11. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=8568
12. http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=89
13. It will be Israeli satellite in August
14. Cartosat 2A to be India's first dedicated military satellite; launch set for August
15. PSLV-C7 using DLA
16. PSLV-C7 using Video Imaging System
External links
★
PSLV-C7 launch Video
★
ISRO PSLV page
★
Bharat-Rakshak PSLV page
★
India in Space PSLV page
★
PSLV-C8 Mission Photo Gallery
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