The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all geared up for the maiden flight of its mini rocket launcher – Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) – in May.
The national space agency announced on Monday that it has successfully carried out the ground testing of the newly developed solid booster stage (SS1) for SSLV at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The remaining stages of SSLV, including the SS2 and SS3, have already undergone necessary ground tests successfully and are ready for integration. The solid booster stages basically provide the initial thrust to the spacecraft as it lifts off from the ground and begins its first ascent.
“The ground test conducted at 12 noon has given sufficient confidence to proceed with the first developmental flight of SSLV (SSLV-D1) in May,” said the agency, which has been planning to take the SSLV off the ground since 2019.
Designed to bolster the agency’s partnership with the private sector for the launch of commercial satellites, the SSLV’s development flight has been marred by delays, following the Covid-19 pandemic that impacted the ground work.
According to ISRO, the propulsion parameters during the test conducted on Monday were found satisfactory and closely matching with the predictions. The agency had made use of the latest new technologies and innovative processes which were successfully validated in the ground test.
The indigenously developed mini-rocket-launcher is specially designed to carry smaller commercial satellites into the low-earth orbit (LEO) from 200-2,000 km above the Earth’s surface. It has a payload capacity of upto 500 kg.
Most commercial launches of ISRO involving international satellites were earlier carried out using its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The need for a separate launch vehicle was being felt for a long time, to meet the growing demand from the private sector. The Department of Space had also set up a separate commercial arm – New Space India Limited (NSIL) – for commercial tie-ups with the global space market and manage technology transfer from ISRO to industries.
The private companies also seek a quick turnaround time for launching multiple satellites – a feature that SSLV is most-suited for, apart from being cost-effective. According to ISRO scientists, it is developed with one-fourth of the total cost of a PSLV, and can be assembled within days.
The government had sanctioned a total cost of Rs 169 crore for the development project of SSLV, including the qualification of the vehicle systems and the flight demonstration which will be done through three development flights (SSLV-D1, SSLV-D2 & SSLV-D3), Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh had earlier told Rajya Sabha.
“The development of SSLV has been primarily envisaged to bring a cost-effective launch vehicle with high launch frequency and quick turnaround capability in order to cater to the growing opportunity in the global launch services market for small satellites,” he said.
The basic hardware & structures for the SSLV development project, including the solid motor cases, nozzle sub-systems, mandrels for the casting of solid motors, inter-stage structures, actuator motors & fixtures were also to be realised through private industry tie-ups.
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