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India to have commercial launch of PSLV on Sep 23
Bangalore, Apr 11: Pitching hard for its pie in the global satellite launch market, India will on September 23 launch PSLV-C8 carrying Italian experimental spacecraft Agile from the Satish Dhawan spaceport in Sriharikota.
The 360 kg Italian satellite, whose payload would study the gamma ray emission, would be the primary payload of the PSLV-C8 mission, with the launch vehicle not having the usual strap on motors. The launch was expected to cost ISRO Rs 70 crore, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told newspersons here today.
Declining to comment on the deal, he merely said ISRO would be meeting the cost of the launch and getting more from the mission.
Normally, such a launch in the global market would cost about 13,000 to 15,000 dollars per kg. ISRO would be getting 30 per cent more.
Dr Nair said the launch vehicle had been integrated with the launch pad and the satellite would be integrated with the vehicle in a few days.
This would be the seventh foreign satellite Indian launch vehicles would be carrying and the first dedicated launch for an outside customer as the other satellites were piggy back riders on Indian satellites.
He said that apart from Agile, PSLV C8 would also carry an experimental payload Advanced Avionic Module (AAM), weighing 185 kg, attached to the last stage. AAM was an advanced computer system expected to replace the existing system that had been functional for over ten years now. The new AAM would be the workhorse for the next 15 years.
He said the better than one metre resolution images from Cartosat-2 could enable cartographers update and integrate cadastral information, which in turn could give a fillip to Land Information System. The Union Urban Development Ministry had launched a programme, covering over 5,000 urban settlements across the country.
In the first phase, 137 major cities would be taken up.
National Remote Sensing Agency (Hyderabad) Director K Radhakrishnan said the launching of Cartosat-1 and 2 satellites would double the demand for such images in the country. NRSA had two years ago sold 20,000 imageries, which after the launch of Cartosat I went up to 27,000 last year. This year the number was expected to cross 40,000 imageries, he added.
He said various users in India had been hitherto getting such imageries from foreign satellites at about 20 Dollars for an imagery of one sqkm. The cost would be considerably low if similar imageries were acquired from Cartosat.
To a question, Dr Nair said ISRO was also working on developing a half a metre resolution camera, for which image capturing technologies need to be developed.
On the failure of the latest test on indigenously developed cryogenic engine, he said the malfunction was due to leak of hydrogen gas. Timely stoppage of the test by a computer at the Mahendragiri facility had enabled ISRO to avert a major fire catastrophe. Steps have been taken to rectify the problem and the cryogenic first stage would be tested later this year.
Dr Nair said the next launch of GSLV would be in August.
He said INSAT 4B, launched by Ariane five on March 12, would be arrested at its space home of 92.5 deg east longitude tomorrow. All the payloads onboard the satellite carrying 12 C Band and 12 Ku band transponders have been tested and it would be operational soon.
INSAT 4B would give a fillip to Direct to Home telecast within the country, besides augmenting other communication services.
UNI
