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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

  • 02 March, 2021

  • 4 Min Read

PSLV C-51 Launched by NSIL

PSLV C-51 Launched by NSIL

PSLV-C51 was successfully launched by ISRO recently.

  • This was the 53rd flight of ISRO’s launch vehicle and the first dedicated mission of its commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd.
  • The mission was undertaken under a commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc., U.S.

Satellites onboard:

  • It carried 19 satellites (Including Brazil’s optical earth observation satellite, Amazonia-1, and 18 co-passenger satellites — five from India and 13 from the U.S.).
  • Amazonia-1 is the first fully Brazilian-made satellite, which would help to monitor the Amazon forests.
  • The Amazonia-1 was injected into its precise orbit of 758 km in a sun-synchronous polar orbit.

The satellites from India are:

  • The Satish Dhawan SAT (SDSAT) built by Space Kidz India. It has an engraving of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the top panel.
  • A nano-satellite intended to study the radiation levels, space weather and demonstrate long-range communication technologies.
  • The UNITYsat, a combination of three satellites for providing radio relay services.
  • The Bhagavad Gita was also sent on board an SD card to give the scripture, which teaches oneness as the highest form of humanity, the highest honour.

What is PSLV?

  • Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is an indigenously-developed expendable launch system of the ISRO.
  • It comes in the category of medium-lift launchers with a reach up to various orbits, including the Geo Synchronous Transfer Orbit, Lower Earth Orbit, and Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit.
  • All the operations of PSLV are controlled from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota.

Difference between PSLV and GSLV:

  • India has two operational launchers- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
  • PSLV was developed to launch low-Earth Orbit satellites into polar and sun synchronous orbits.
  • It has since proved its versatility by launching geosynchronous, lunar and interplanetary spacecraft successfully.
  • On the other hand, GSLV was developed to launch the heavier INSAT class of geosynchronous satellites into orbit.
  • In its third and final stage, GSLV uses the indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage.

Source: TH


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