What is PSLV - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

-



The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, commonly known by its abbreviation PSLV, is an expendable launch system developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into Sun-synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
In 2015 India successfully launched 17 foreign satellites belonging to Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India's first interplanetary mission, Mangalyaan (Mars orbiter) and India's first space observatory, Astrosat.
On 15 February 2017, India successfully launched a payload of 104 foreign satellites in polar orbit around the Earth using PSLV tripling the previous record held by Russia for most number of satellites sent to space in a single launch.



PSLV was designed and developed in the early 1990s at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The inertial navigation systems are developed by ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram. The liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of PSLV as well as the reaction control systems are developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. The solid propellant motors are processed at Satish Dhawan Space Centre(SHAR)at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh which also carries out launch operations.


The PSLV was first launched on 20 September 1993. The first and second stages performed as expected, but an attitude controlproblem led to the collision of the second and third stages at separation, and the payload failed to reach orbit. After this initial setback, the PSLV successfully completed its second mission in 1994. The fourth launch of PSLV suffered a partial failure in 1997, leaving its payload in a lower than planned orbit. Since then, the PSLV has launched 34 times with no further failures.


PSLV continues to support Indian and foreign satellite launches especially for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. It has undergone several improvements with each subsequent version, especially those involving thrust, efficiency as well as weight. In November 2013, it was used to launch the Mars Orbiter Mission, India's first interplanetary probe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Is Global Positioning System - Introduction To GPS - How It Works

-
Image
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of at least 24 satellites. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, with no subscription fees or setup charges. The U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD) originally put the satellites into orbit for military use, but they were made available for civilian use in the 1980s. GPS or Global Positioning System is a network of orbiting satellites that send precise details of their position in space back to earth. The signals are obtained by GPS receivers, such as navigation devices and are used to calculate the exact position, speed and time at the vehicles location. GPS is well-known for its military uses and was first developed by the US to aid in its global intelligence efforts at the height of the Cold War. Ever since the early 1980s, however, the GPS has been freely available to anyone with a GPS receiver. Airlines, shipping companies, trucking firms, and drivers...
Read more

List of Hijacking of Indian Aeroplanes - 1971, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1993, 1999

-
Image
1971 January 30 : An Indian Airlines plane on its way from Srinagar to Jammu was hijacked by Hashim Quereshi and Ashraf Quereshi of the JKLF, who took it to Lahore. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then Foreign Minister of Pakistan rushed to Lahore and met the hijackers and helped them get maximum international publicity. On February 1, he persuaded them to release the crew and passengers who were then sent by road to Amritsar. The Government of India sought permission of Pakistan to send a replacement crew to fly the aircraft back to India. Pakistan authorities denied the permission. Instead it is alleged they supplied petrol to the hijackers with which they burnt the aircraft on February 2. From Lahore Airport the hijackers were taken into a procession as heroes. 1981 September 29 : An Indian airlines plane on flight from Srinagar to Delhi is hijacked by Sikh Terrorists and taken to Lahore. Pakistan took commando action and got all passengers released. 1982 August 22 : A lone mili...
Read more

Zombies (Bot and Botnets)

-
Bot  : A ‘bot’ is a type of malicious code that allows an attacker to take complete control over the affected computer – turning the computer into a “robot” that the criminal can remotely control. Once infected, these machines may also be referred to as ‘zombies’. While taking over one computer is useful, the real value comes from collecting huge numbers of computers and networking these so they can all be controlled at once (a botnet). There are between 100-150 million computers worldwide (out of 600 million PCs on the Internet) infected with bots and under the control of hackers. Botnet : A botnet is a group of computers connected in a coordinated fashion for malicious purposes. Each computer in a botnet is called a bot. These bots form a network of compromised computers, which is controlled by a third party and used to transmit malware or spam, or to launch attacks. A botnet may also be known as a zombie army . Originally, botnets were created as a t...
Read more