New Delhi The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has finally announced the launch date of its C53 mission for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The mission faced several initial delays, but was finally slated for launch this year after the launch of the PSLV-C52 mission in February this year.
The mission will carry a payload of three satellites, including an Earth observation satellite, from Singapore. Both the EO satellite and the NeuSAR Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite will contribute to satellite imagery operations for ISRO’s tertiary customers.
The mission is also the second dedicated commercial space mission for India, contracted by New Space India Limited (NSIL), a newly appointed public sector undertaking organization. The latter is tipped to bring in commercial contracts for ISRO, and with IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center) to help private sector organizations work with India’s central space agency. Have to work.
The PSLV-C53 mission will also carry experiments into orbit with the fourth phase of the mission. The latter, which normally burns up and disintegrates in orbit, will be deployed in orbit as the Polar Orbital Experimental Module (Poetry) – and will conduct scientific experiments for the first time.
The final stage will use its own navigation commands to maintain orbital altitude. It will also carry six additional payloads, including those from two Indian private startups- Digantara and Dhruv Space. The latter two were facilitated by IN-SPACe.
However, this is not the first time that ISRO is using its fourth stage as an Earth orbital platform. ISRO’s 2019 PSLV-C44 mission, launched in January 2019, became the first mission in the world to deploy the reusable final stage of the space mission. Taking this further, PSLV-C53 will now use the orbital platform to conduct experiments in space as well.
The C53 mission marks the launch of three of the five satellites planned to be launched by ISRO by May this year. India’s central space agency chief S Somanath had said earlier this year on the launch of the PSLV-C52 mission that the agency plans to launch five satellites within three months.
Somnath had also said that by 2022, ISRO plans to launch a total of 19 space missions – of which the C53 mission will be one.