Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set afloat five foreign satellites into space as part of its first historic commercial launch on July 10, 2015.
Located in Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), the centre has decided to put in orbit five foreign satellites as a part of arrangement entered in between DMC International Imaging (DMCii), a wholly owned subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), UK and Antrix Corporation Limited.
Five satellites have an overall lift-off mass of about 1,440 kg, making this mission the heaviest commercial mission ever undertaken by ISRO and Antrix, ISRO’s commercial arm.
In its very 13th flight, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-28) will carry DMC3 constellation housing three cutting-edge mini satellites namely DMC-1, DMC-2 and DMC-3.
Accommodating these three DMC3 satellites each with a height of approximately 3 metres within the existing payload fairing of PSLV, was a tough fight, ISRO said.
These three satellites, each weighing 447 kg approximately, will be launched into a 647 km Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) using the advanced version of PSLV-XL, ISRO reported on its website.
Furthermore, the rocket will also carry two supplementary satellites from UK-CNBT-1, weighing about 91 kg.
This is an optical earth observation technology demonstration micro satellite built by SSTL, and DE-Orbit sail, weighing 7kg, an experimental Nano satellite designed by Surrey Space Centre.
To house these satellites into the launcher, a specially designed circular launcher adaptor, L-adaptor, and a triangular deck named Multiple Satellite Adapter (MSA-V2), were recently designed and used by ISRO for this specific occasion.
