ISRO’s PSLV-C53 set to launch 3 Singapore satellites
ISRO is set to launch the second dedicated commercial mission of its commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) – ‘PSLV-C53’ carrying three satellites from Singapore on June 30.
Gowrish Babu
The launch vehicle carrying DS-EO satellite along with two other co-passenger satellites is scheduled to lift off at 18:00 hours IST from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
ISRO’s PSLV-C53 will carry three satellites – the 365 kg DS-EO and 155 kg NeuSAR, that belong to Singapore and are built by Starec Initiative of South Korea.
The third satellite is a 2.8 kg Scoob-1 of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. The total weight of the three satellites is 522.8 kg.
ISRO will use the rocket’s fourth and final stage as an orbital platform for six payloads, including two from Indian space start-ups, Digantara and Dhruva Aerospace.
The mission proposes to demonstrate the utilisation of the spent upper stage of the launch vehicle as a stabilised platform for scientific payloads, subsequent to the separation of the satellites.
The four stage expendable, 44.4 m tall PSLV-C53 has a lift-off mass of about 228 ton.
The rocket’s four stages will be powered by alternating solid and liquid fuel.
This will be the 55th mission of PSLV and 15th mission using the PSLV-Core Alone variant, and is the 16th PSLV launch from the second launch pad.