Shortly after its launch this morning from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, the new ISRO rocket, SSLV-D2, successfully placed three satellites into the intended orbit.
At 9:18 a.m., the rocket took off with three mini, micro, and nano satellites from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. During its 15-minute flight, the satellites were placed in a 450 km circular orbit around the Earth.
ISRO tweeted that, the mission was carried out successfully, and SSLV-D2 placed EOS-07, Janus-1, and AzaadiSAT-2 into their intended orbits. ISRO’s EOS-07, Antaris’ Janus-1, and SpaceKidz’s AzaadiSAT-2, an 8.7 kg satellite developed by 750 girl students from across India, were the three satellites that were launched into orbit.
The new vehicle was designed to take advantage of the growing commercial market for small and microsatellite satellites.
The space agency conducted its second Small Satellite Launch Vehicle development flight. The rocket failed to inject its satellite payload into their intended orbits during the first test flight of SSLV on August 9. This resulted in a partial failure.
On a launch-on-demand basis, SSLV accommodates the launch of satellites weighing up to 500 kilograms into low earth orbits. Access to space is offered at a low cost, the turnaround time is short, multiple satellites can be accommodated with ease, and launch infrastructure is minimal.
