November 24, 2023 07:40 pm | Updated November 25, 2023 01:34 am IST – THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Aditya-L1, India’s maiden photo voltaic mission, on board PSLV-C57 lifts off from the launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota, on Sept. 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the primary sounding rocket launch from Thumba this week, is getting ready for one more ‘big 60.’
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), usually dubbed the “reliable workhorse” of the area company given its glowing success fee, is ready to have its sixtieth flight quickly.
ISRO is hoping to have the sixtieth PSLV launch by December end this yr, in accordance to S. Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the lead ISRO unit for launch autos at Thumba right here.
This mission could have as payload the XPoSAT, brief for X-ray Polarimeter Satellite. This, in accordance to ISRO, is the nation’s “first dedicated polarimetry mission to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.” ISRO will make use of a PSLV variant which makes use of two strap-on motors for the sixtieth flight.
30 years in the past
A four-stage expendable launch automobile, the PSLV stands 44.4 metres tall and is powered by two strong propellant and two liquid propellant phases. The PSLV had its first developmental flight — PSLV-D1 — 30 years in the past on September 20, 1993, however it was unsuccessful.
The business launches started after two extra developmental flights, each of which had been profitable. The PSLV has been used to launch a number of high-profile ISRO missions, together with the Chandrayaan-1 moon mission, the Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission, and the newer Aditya-L1 photo voltaic probe. The PSLV-C37 mission is credited with putting 104 satellites in orbit. The fiftieth PSLV launch came about on December 11, 2019, with the PSLV-C48 mission. The PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 mission on September 2, 2023, marked the 59th flight of the launch automobile.
If ISRO had not averted numbering a mission ‘C13’ (PSLV-C12 was adopted by C14!)- the C57 mission in September would have been the sixtieth flight of the launch automobile.
