Small Satellite Launch Vehicle

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the satellites onboard its maiden Small Satellite Launch Vehicle “are no longer usable” after the SSLV-D1 placed them in an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one.

• While the three solid fuel-based propulsion stages worked normally, the satellites were injected into a wrong orbit, due to failure of logic to identify a sensor failure.

EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT

• The Earth Observation Satellite EOS-02 and the co-passenger student satellites AzaadiSAT are the major payloads for the SSLV.

Small Satellite Launch Vehicle

• Small Satellite Launch Vehicle is India’s smallest launch vehicle weighing 110 tonnes.
• It can carry payloads weighing up to 500 kg and deploy satellites into a 500 km low earth orbit.

Advantages of SSLV

• Can be assembled within 72 hours by a team of just 5-6 people.
• It costs at least one-tenth of those currently in use.
• It can enable a space launch from India every week. 
• It caters specifically to the small and micro satellites that constitute over 90% of all satellites being launched these days.

Significance

• The SSLV is intended to cater to a market for the launch of small satellites into low earth orbits with a quick turn-around time.
• Suited for launching multiple microsatellites & supports multiple orbital drop-offs.
• Shift the burden of commercial launches from PSLV
• The SSLV is likely to cost a fourth of the current PSLV.