PSLV-C54 carrying earth observation satellite and co-passenger satellites lifts off

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch the PSLV-C54/EOS-06 mission with Oceansat-3 and eight nanosatellites including one from Bhutan successfully lift off from the first launch-pad Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

A polar satellite launch vehicle carrying earth observation and eight co-passenger satellites lifted off from this spaceport on Saturday, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

The mission is said to be the last one undertaken by ISRO this year.

PSLV-C54 carries an Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-06) or Oceansat as its primary payload and eight co-passenger satellites are expected to be placed into sun synchronous orbits in over a two-hour time frame.

The entire separation of satellites is expected to take place in two hours after lift-off.

The Earth Observation Satellite-6 is the third-generation satellite in the Oceansat series. This is to provide continuity services of Oceansat-2 spacecraft with enhanced payload specifications as well as application areas.

The eight nanosatellites include ISRO Nano Satellite-2 for Bhutan (INS-2B), Anand, Astrocast (four satellites), and two Thybolt satellites. The INS-2B spacecraft will have two payloads namely NanoMx and APRS-Digipeater.

While the NanoMx is a multi-spectral optical imaging payload developed by Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, the APRS-Digipeater payload has been jointly developed by the Department of Information Technology and Telecom-Bhutan and the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru.

The Anand nanosatellite developed by Bengaluru-based space start-up, Pixxel, is a technology demonstrator to demonstrate the capabilities and commercial applications of miniaturized Earth-observation cameras for Earth observation using a microsatellite in Low Earth Orbit.

Astrocast, developed by Hyderabad-based Dhruva Space, is a 3U spacecraft. It is a technology demonstrator satellite for the Internet of Things (IoT).

The U.S.-based Spaceflight has developed Thybolt which is a 0.5U spacecraft bus that includes a communication payload to enable rapid technology demonstration and constellation development for multiple users.

(With inputs from PTI)