ISRO’s PSLV Places All 7 Singaporean Satellites Into Their Intended Orbits

SRIHARIKOTA: The PSLV rocket, the workhorse of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on Sunday placed all seven satellites of Singapore into the designated near-equatorial orbit (NEO) after it was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh.

Around 23 minutes after the rocket lifted off from the launch pad and after covering a distance of 535 km, the rocket separated itself from the satellites it was carrying attached to it and deployed them into their intended orbits, said ISRO.

The payload DS-SAR satellite was developed in collaboration with the Government of Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency and ST Engineering. It was intended to be launched into a near-equatorial orbit (NEO) at an inclination of 5 degrees at an altitude of 535 km above Earth.

According to ISRO, once it is deployed and made operational, the DS-SAR satellite will be utilised to support the requirements of various agencies within the government of Singapore for satellite imagery.

ISRO’s PSLV-C56 carried a payload of six co-passenger customer satellites - VELOX-AM, a 23 kg technology demonstration microsatellite; ARCADE Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Explorer (ARCADE), a satellite in the experimental stage; SCOOB-II , a 3U nanosatellite flying a payload of a technology demonstrator; NuLIoN by NuSpace, a 3U nanosatellite which will enable seamless IoT connectivity in both urban and remote locations; Galassia-2, an advanced 3U nanosatellite that will orbit at low earth orbit; and ORB-12 STRIDER, a satellite that has been developed under an International collaboration.

Post the successful deployment off the satellites, ISRO took to Twitter or X to announce the PSLV-C56/DS-SAR Mission: The mission is successfully accomplished. PSLV-C56 vehicle launched all seven satellites precisely into their intended orbits. Thanks to @NSIL_India and Singapore, for the contract.

This flight of the PSLV marks the 58th overall successful launch and the 17th one that is using the Core Alone configuration. The upper stage of the rocket was placed in a lower orbit after all the satellites were injected, to ensure that it has a shorter orbital life.

According to an ISRO statement, the PSLV-C56 was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre’s (SDSC) First Launch Pad (FLP).

The launch of PSLV-C56 / DS-SAR is the Dedicated Commercial Mission made by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) for Singapore’s ST Engineering. DS-SAR is a Radar Imaging Earth Observation satellite, which is the primary satellite for the launch mission.

DS-SAR satellite was developed under a partnership between Government of Singapore’s DSTA and ST Engineering. Once deployed and fully operational, it will be utilised for the purpose of meeting satellite imagery requirements of different agencies within the Government of Singapore.

ST Engineering is slated to use the satellite for multi-modal and higher responsiveness imagery and geospatial services for their commercial customers. a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload is being carried by DS-SAR. It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

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