Chandrayaan keeping good health: ISRO

Bangalore, Oct 22 (UNI) Chandrayaan 1 launched from Sriharikota early today is maintaining good health, ISRO said.

In a release here, the space organisation said the 14th flight conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota this morning has successfully launched the 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft into a transfer orbit.

The lift off after a 52-hour countdown was perfect to the last second. After that the first stage of launch vehicle was ignited.

The important flight events, included separation of the first stage, ignition of the second stage, separation of the payload fairing at about 116 km altitude after the vehicle had cleared the dense atmosphere, second stage separation, third stage ignition, third stage separation, fourth stage ignition and fourth stage cut-off.

PSLV-C11, which put the Chandrayaan I to earth orbit, was the uprated version of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its standard configuration. Weighing 320 tonnes at lift-off, the vehicle uses larger strap-on motors (PSOM-XL) to achieve higher payload capability. PSOM-XL uses 12 tonnes of solid propellants instead of nine tonnes used in the earlier configuration of PSLV. The four stage launch vehicle employed both solid and liquid propulsion stages.

As the trusted workhorse, the PSLV has repeatedly proved its reliability and versatility. ISRO has launched 30 spacecraft (14 Indian and 16 for international customers) into a variety of orbits so far. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, designed and developed the PSLV.

ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram developed the inertial systems. The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), also at Thiruvananthapuram, developed the liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of PSLV as well as reaction control systems. SDSC SHAR processed the solid propellant motors and carried out launch operations. ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) provided telemetry, tracking and command support, the release added.

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