India's space programme explanation will start off tomorrow, January 24, with the launch of Microsat-R, an imaging satellite for DRDO, and Kamalsat, a small communiqué satellite developed by students and Space Kidz India. The satellites will be carried by a new variant of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.
ISRO is planning to have the launch at about 11:40 pm tomorrow night. The launch mission PSLV-C44 won't just launch a satellite but will be the first in the world to use the rocket as a platform for experiments in space as well.
"We will be launching 700-kg Microsat-R and Kalamsat with a new alternative of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). In order to reduce the weight and increase the mass, an aluminum tank is used for the first time in the fourth stage," K Sivan, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS.
The satellite launch will take place 90 km off Chennai — from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota.
Srimathy Kesan, Founder CEO of Space Kidz India, told IANS that her daydream of putting a satellite built by students will become an actuality tomorrow night with the launch of Kalamsat.
According to her, it will be the first satellite of Space Kidz India to be in a proper orbit as its earlier satellites were suborbital ones. The nanosatellite will also enter history books on that account.
Space Kidz India is working towards promoting art, science, and culture for students of India, and to create an international platform for them.
Chennai-based Space Kidz India now plans to build another satellite – Vikramsat – to do some biological experiment in space, said a top official.
"We are planning to build a satellite called Vikramsat to do some biological experiment in the space. By this we hope to contribute in a small way to India's determined human space mission Gaganyaan," said Kesan.
The launch tomorrow is a special event because of the multiple utilities of the rocket and its pattern.
The PSLV is a four-stage engine dispensable rocket with irregular solid and liquid fuel. In its normal pattern, the rocket will have six strap-on motors hugging the rocket's first stage.
However, the launch rocket tomorrow will have just two strap-on motors for the first time, called the DL mode.
Moreover, the final fuel stage of the rocket will also play an additional role.
After the two satellites are put into the correct orbits, the PSLV C44 will travel in a circular orbit and give a platform for carrying out space experiments.
After launching several satellites built by students of different universities, ISRO will launch one built by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in a teamwork with California Institute of Technology, an Indian space agency official said.
"The IIST is scheming a satellite along with California Institute of Technology," Isro Chairman K Sivan, told IANS.
While the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been putting into orbit satellites built by Indian university and educational institutions since 2009, the non-building of a satellite by IIST was noticeable.
The IIST is an independent body under the Department of Space and is a deemed university inaugurate in 2007.
According to the California Institute of Technology, the student-designed and -built satellite would be a test bed for a new type of space telescope and is called AAReST (Autonomous Assembly of a Reconfigurable Space Telescope).
The AAReST is designed and built in large part by students of California Institute of Technology in collaboration with IIST and Surrey Space Centre in England.
ISRO will also launch GSAT 31, a communication satellite, during the first week of February by Ariane space rocket Ariane, said Sivan.
"The satellite is in Kourou. It will be put into orbit by Ariane rocket. Weighing about three ton, the satellite is a replacement for INSAT-4CR. It will be followed by GSAT 30 which will be a replacement for INSAT 4A," Sivan said.
