UPSC Current affairs - WESTERN NAVAL COMMAND

Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)

 

 

Context:

  • The new chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, Dr S Somanath indicated at a meeting with the minister of state for space Jitendra Singh Tuesday that ISRO’s indigenous new launch rockets, called the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), will have its much-delayed, maiden development flight this April.

 

About SSLV:

  • The SSLV is intended to cater to a market for the launch of small satellites into low earth orbits which has emerged in recent years on account of the need for developing countries, private corporations, and universities for small satellites.
  • The launch of small satellites has until now been dependent on ‘piggy-back’ rides with big satellite launches on ISRO’s work-horse – the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which has had over 50 successful launches so far.
  • The launch of small satellites as a consequence has been dependent on the finalising of launch contracts for the larger satellites by ISRO.
  • The SSLV received a commercial booking in 2019 itself from the US space launch services intermediary Spaceflight Inc.
  • Spaceflight announced on August 8, 2019, that it has clinched a deal with an ISRO commercial arm for using the second developmental flight of the SSLV rocket to launch a spacecraft for an “undisclosed US-based satellite constellation” customer.
  • “SSLV is perfectly suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs.
  • We are excited to add SSLV to our launch portfolio and manage many launches together — first to LEO(low earth orbit) mid-inclinations this year and SSO missions starting in the fall of 2020,” Spaceflight CEO and president Curt Blake said in 2019.

Source: THE HINDU.