ISRO's maiden SSLV lifts off with satellite built by girl students; suffers 'data loss'

SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission: the launch was scheduled at 9:18 am (Image: ISRO/Twitter)

The Indian Space Research Organisation on August 7 launched the country's first small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) but a few minutes after the liftoff,  ISRO said "data loss" occurred during the terminal stage and it was being analysed.

ISRO said that the flight was completed but data loss occurred during the terminal stage. ''SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission: Maiden flight of SSLV is completed. All stages performed as expected. Data loss is observed during the terminal stage. It is being analysed. Will be updated soon,'' ISRO wrote in a tweet.

The SSLV is carrying earth observation satellite EOS-02 and a student satellite AzaadiSAT, built by girls students from rural India.

Also Read: India will launch humans into space by next year, says Union minister

At the end of a seven-and-a-half-hour countdown, the 34-metre SSLV soared at 9.18 am amid cloudy skies to place the satellites into the intended orbit.  The SSLV-D1/EOS-02 mission by ISRO is aimed at garnering a larger pie in the small launch vehicles market, as it can place the satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

LEO, according to the European Space Agency, is normally at an altitude of less than 1,000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth. It is the orbit most commonly used for satellite imaging, as being near the surface, it allows images of higher resolution.

SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission: Maiden flight of SSLV is completed. All stages performed as expected. Data loss is observed during the terminal stage. It is being analysed. Will be updated soon.

— ISRO (@isro) August 7, 2022

The SSLV can put payloads (mini, micro or nanosatellites) weighing up to 500 kg into the 500 km planar orbit, according to ISRO.

SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission: the launch is scheduled at 9:18 am (IST). Watch LIVE from 08:30 am here: https://t.co/V1Bk6GZoCF pic.twitter.com/ZTYo8NFXac

— ISRO (@isro) August 7, 2022

Payloads

The EOS-02 is an experimental optical remote sensing satellite with a high spatial resolution. It is to realise and fly an experimental imaging satellite with a short turnaround time and to demonstrate launch-on-demand capability. EOS-02 belongs to the microsatellite series of space crafts.

The AzaadiSAT, which weighs around 8 kg, is part of a series of celebrations being held across the country to make India’s 75 Independence Day as Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. The AzaadiSat, or the “freedom satellite”, which carries 75 different payloads, has been built by 750 girl students from rural India. The girls were provided guidance to build these payloads.

The payloads were integrated by the student team of tech incubator Space Kidz India. The ground system developed by Space Kidz India would be utilised for receiving the data from this satellite, ISRO said.

With inputs from PTI