The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C56) on its 56th mission to space with seven foreign satellites on Sunday. ISRO’s achievement marks a significant milestone in India’s journey towards the advancement of space research.
The PSLV-C56 mission was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the wee hours of Sunday, which marks the second big launch by the Indian space agency in two weeks after the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon on July 14 from Sriharikota.
The DS-SAR satellite, created through a collaboration between DSTA, representing the Government of Singapore and ST Engineering, will meet the imagery requirements of several Singapore government agencies and ST Engineering's commercial customers.
ISRO carried out the launch under a contract with New Space India Limited (NSIL). The launch on Sunday morning was the fourth specific PSLV mission for the Singaporean government and the 431st international satellite launch from India by ISRO.
After being launched from Sriharikota, all seven satellites were successfully placed into the designated orbit after about 20 minutes.
The DS-SAR satellite, weighing 360 kg, was launched into a Near-equatorial Orbit (NEO) at an altitude of 535 km.
It carries a SAR payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), enabling all-weather day and night coverage and is capable of imaging at 1m resolution at full polarimetry.
The Singaporean government will be able to evaluate the harm caused by natural catastrophes, monitor land usage, track deforestation, and support security and defence activities using the high-resolution capabilities of the satellite. Commercial customers can use the satellite for infrastructure evaluation, agricultural monitoring, and exploration of oil and gas.
With the launch of DS-SAR, six co-passenger satellites were also launched. This includes VELOX-AM, a technology demonstration microsatellite; ARCADE, an experimental satellite for atmospheric coupling and dynamics exploration; SCOOB-II, a nanosatellite flying a technology demonstrator payload; NuLIoN by NuSpace, an advanced nanosatellite enabling seamless IoT connectivity in both urban & remote locations; Galassia-2, a nanosatellite orbiting at low earth orbit; and ORB-12 STRIDER, a satellite developed under the international collaboration.
After the launch, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh tweeted, “In the midst of #Chandrayaan3 mission, #ISRO scales another landmark with the successful launch of PSLV-C56/DS-SAR. PM Sh @NarendraModi’s consistent support enables Team @ISRO to register one success after the other in a serial form.”