ISRO launches PSLV-C55 mission; successfully places 2 Singaporean satellites into Orbit

India on Saturday, April 22 created a history as it successfully launched the most-awaited PSLV-C55 carrying two Singaporean satellites. The launch of 44.4-metre tall rocket took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2:19 pm by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 

This is a dedicated commercial mission through NewSpace India Limited which is the commercial arm of ISRO. The polar satellite launch vehicle launched 741 kg TeLEOS-2 as the primary satellite and Lumelite-4, as a co-passenger satellite that weighs 16 kilograms. They are intended to be launched into an Eastward low inclination orbit. It is the 57th flight of PSLV and the 16th mission of the PSLV Core Alone (PSLV-CA) variant. This is the lightest version of PSLV. 

This is the third time that PS4 is being used after satellite separations as a platform for experiments. 

ISRO Chairman S Somanath informed that this will the fifth launch in this edition. This rocket launch is being carried out with eight small payloads and we have prayed for the success of this launch. Notably, the ISRO recently successfully conducted a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) autonomous landing mission (RLV-LEX) at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Karnataka's Chitradurga.

TeLEOS-2

The TeLEOS-2 satellite is developed under a partnership between DSTA (representing the Government of Singapore) and ST Engineering. Once deployed and operational, it will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore. TeLEOS-2 carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload. TeLEOS-2 will be able to provide all-weather day and night coverage and is capable of imaging at 1m full-polarimetric resolution.

LUMILITE-4

The LUMELITE-4 satellite is co-developed by the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) of A*STAR and the Satellite Technology and Research Centre (STAR) of the National University of Singapore. LUMELITE4 is an advanced 12U satellite developed for the technology demonstration of the High-Performance Space-borne VHF Data Exchange System (VDES). Using the VDES communication payload developed by I2R and STAR’s scalable satellite bus platform, it aims to augment Singapore’s e-navigation maritime safety and benefit the global shipping community.

POEM-2

The mission has the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), where the spent PS4 stage of the launch vehicle would be utilized as an orbital platform to carry out scientific experiments through non-separating payloads. The payloads belong to ISRO/Department of Space, Bellatrix, Dhruva Space, and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

WATCH HERE: ISRO launches PSLV-C55 Mission from Sriharikota