BackISRO planning to launch second development SSLV flight in Feb: S Somanath
ISRO is planning scientific missions to Mars and Venus and the Chandrayaan-3 mission is also planned for this year
PremiumAfter an unsuccessful attempt in August last year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning a second development flight of a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) next month. The officials from the space agency also announced that during the development flight, India will also test a space-based aircraft monitoring system.
In August 2022, ISRO attempted at launching a flight development flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) which can launch up to 500 kg of satellites in planar orbit, but the attempt was unsuccessful. If the second attempt turns out successful next month, the space agency will provide an on-demand launch of small satellites in the range of 10 kg to 500 kg.
"I cannot give you a specific date, but we are planning a test flight next month," ISRO chairman S Somanath told reporters here on the sidelines of the 108th Indian Science Congress.
On the SSLV, the space agency also plans to test the satellite-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver system, the senior official from ISRO said.
"The ADS-B receiver gets all details of an aircraft. Currently, the Air Traffic Controller gets these signals. But there are certain blind spots -- about 30 percent of airspace across the globe -- to which ATC doesn't have access. Now, we have developed a space-based ADS-B technology," D K Singh, Deputy Director, Advanced Technology Area, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, told the news agency PTI.
The chief of the space agency also talked about the outline of the upcoming projects. ISRO is planning scientific missions to Mars and Venus and the Chandrayaan-3 mission is also planned for this year.
"The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is almost ready. The orbiter, lander, and rover. But we are waiting for the right time to launch the mission, which is sometime in June. We will try to meet that launch window," he said.
To facilitate in-flight connectivity for automobile services using the Ka-band the space agency is planning to launch the GSAT-20 high throughput satellite next year.
(With inputs from PTI)
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