buoyant enthusiasm The Indian Space Research Organisation’s new rocket, the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), turned into despair soon after its first launch. it was because The satellites the vehicle was carrying failed to be placed in the desired orbits. and were lost. Breaking the tradition of return and silence after a failed mission, ISRO announced details as to why the satellites were lost in no time. The three stages of the SSLV rocket, with their solid propellants, performed as expected and separated smoothly to propel the remaining stages through the prescribed trajectory. However, in the terminal stage, there was a sensor fault, which caused the satellites to be placed in an elliptical orbit instead of a 356 km, low-Earth, circular orbit. An elliptical orbit is defined by its long and short axes, just as a circle is defined by its radius. The minor axis of the obtained elliptical orbit was short and the height of the satellites was only about 76 km from Earth. At this altitude, atmospheric drag hinders the satellite’s progress and if a large thrust is not provided, the object will lose altitude and fall to Earth, probably burning up; In any case it will invariably be lost in the Control Panel. The same happened with the two satellites being carried by SSLV.
SSLV has been promoted as ISRO’s next workhorse rocket after the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). With only two meters in diameter and 35 meters in height, it is actually smaller than the PSLV which has been used to set up a wider range of satellites. The fact that PSLV also carries small satellites is a bit high, and those with mass up to 500 kg can be flown using SSLV instead. SSLV uses solid propellant and is more economical and easier to handle than the liquid propellant stages of PSLV. SSLVs have the flexibility to launch multiple satellites, and satellites can be launched on demand – as the rocket requires minimal launch infrastructure. All these characteristics make it very attractive for commercial Earth observation and communication. Strategically, it also makes sense to separate the categories of mass. This time, however, success was not to be found, and both the 135 kg earth observation satellite EOS-02 and the 8 kg nano satellite, AzadiSat, were lost. In this episode, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath’s direct communication and making preliminary analysis available at the earliest for the benefit of all concerned was of paramount importance. It is well known that space agencies around the world invest in testing much more than in India. India’s approach, however economical, may at some point incur costs. The success is remarkable in such circumstances; And failure is a lesson that has to be paid.