Isro to launch 5 satellites for Antrix this month

Spacecraft to Mars travelled 466 mn km of its 680 mn km journey

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is gearing up for the next launch for its commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited. The PSLV C23 of ISRO will carry five foreign satellites from countries including France, Germany and Singapore. It is scheduled to take off from the Sriharikota space port (SHAR) at the end of this month.

Isro  officials said, the launch preparation activities were progressing smoothly at Sriharikota.

The main satellite is Spot 7 from France and weighs 712 kg. The satellite is an advanced Earth observation satellite. The PSLV C23 will also have four co-passenger satellites, weighing 14-15 kg each. These will be for Germany, Canada and Singapore among others.

As the reliability rate of PSLV has been ‘superb’, according to Isro, with 25 continuously successful flights of the PSLV, till April 2014, this time too the PSLV will be used for the launch.

PSLV has proved its multi-payload, multi-mission capability in a single launch and its geosynchronous launch capability.

In the Chandrayaan mission, another variant of the PSLV with an extended version of strap-on motors, PSOM-XL, the payload haul was enhanced to 1,750 kg in 620 km SSPO (sun-synchronous polar orbit). PSLV has earned the status as the workhorse of Isro.

The PSLV C23’s commercial launch will be for the Antrix Corporation, commercial arm of Isro. Early this year, the corporation said, it was expecting a 15 per cent growth in turnover as more countries were using Isro’s infrastructure and expertise to launch satellites for their use.

V S Hegde, chairman and managing director, Antrix Corporation, said, in 2012-13 the corporation clocked a revenue of Rs 1,300 crore and expected about 15 per cent growth in 2014-15.

Antrix Corporation is a wholly owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of the Department of Space, Government of India. Incorporated as a private limited company in September 1992, it has been a Marketing arm of Isro for promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO.

Antrix provides end to end solution for any of the space products, ranging from supply of hardware and software including simple subsystems to a complex spacecraft, for varied applications covering communications, earth observation, scientific missions and space related service including remote sensing data series, transponders lease service; launch services through the operational launch vehicles (PSLV and GSLV), Mission support services along with consultancy and training services are also offered by Antrix, according to the company officials.

Isro conducts TCM-2 for Mars Orbiter Mission

The second Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM-2) of India's Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was successfully performed on June 11, 2014, said Isro. The spacecraft so far has traveled, to Mars, a distance of 466 million km as part of its total Journey of 680 million km.

The TCM-2 was performed at 1630 hrs on June 11 and performed by firing the spacecraft's 22 Newton thrusters for a duration of 16 seconds.

At present, the radio distance between the Spacecraft and the Earth is 102 million km. A radio signal from the Earth to the Spacecraft now takes about 340 seconds.

The spacecraft so far has traveled a distance of 466 million km as part of its total Journey of 680 million km.

ISRO is continuously monitoring Mars Orbiter Spacecraft using Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN). The spacecraft and its five scientific instruments are in good health, said Isro.

Isro's PSLV-C25, in its 25th flight, was successfully launched with Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft from SDSC SHAR Sriharikota on November 5, 2013. The spacecraft is expected to reach the deep space in September 2014, after a 300 day journey in deep space.