Indian Space agency ISRO starts 2023 launch calendar with success of 'SSLV-D2'; India gets a new rocket!

The Indian space research organisation kicked off its launch activity for the calendar year 2023 with the successful launch of the ‘SSLV-D2’ mission. At the end of a six-and-a-half hour countdown that commenced at 2:48 am on Friday, the vehicle lifted off from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota and zoomed into the skies, with the characteristic boom of the rocket's solid-fueled engines, the roar of which was audible for at least a seven kilometer radius around the launchpad.

Fifteen minutes into the flight, all three satellites ISRO's EOS-7 (Earth Observation Satellite-7 weighing156.3kg) and two co-passenger satellites Janus-1 (weighing 10.2kg) from USA and student satellite AzaadiSAT-2 (weighing 8.8kg) were placed into a 450km circular orbit. In his post-launch address, Dr. S.Somanath, Chairman, ISRO declared that India has a new launch vehicle. The SSLV joins the stable of the existing orbital launch vehicles such as PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mark 3.Notably, the maiden launch of SSLV on August 7th 2022 had failed and Friday's successful launch has served as an opportunity for ISRO to establish the capability of their newest launch vehicle.

In terms of technical specifications, the SSLV is a 3-stage Launch Vehicle configured with three Solid Propulsion Stages and liquid propulsion-based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) as a terminal stage. SSLV measures two metre in diameter and 34 metre in length, with lift off weight of nearly 120 tonnes. SSLV is capable of launching 500kg payloads in orbits 500km above the earth's surface. The key features of SSLV are Low-cost, with low turn-around time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, Launch on-demand feasibility, minimal launch infrastructure requirements, etc.

SSLV is a simple and easy-to-build rocket, when compared to ISRO's routine launchers such as the PSLV, GSLV and LVM3. The SSLV is a rocket that is powered almost entirely by solid fuel, whereas the PSLV is powered by solid and liquid fuels and GSLV series of rockets are powered by solid, liquid and cryogenic fuels. Being powered by solid fuel also means that the SSLV rocket stages can be assembled at short notice or even be stored with fuel onboard. It is said that it takes less than a week for a handful of engineers and technicians to assemble the SSLV, in contrast with hundreds of personnel and anywhere between 30-45 days for assembling India's larger rockets.

Generally, the first two or three flights of a new rocket are known as "developmental flights". These are opportunities for the rocket to showcase its real-world performance and worthiness as a dependable launcher. While several aspects of a rocket's flight can be simulated and studied, the experience and science data gained from a launch is most crucial to understand the characteristics of the vehicle. Following two or three developmental flights, the rocket is declared operational and is used for routine missions.

During the maiden launch, a vibration disturbance caused during the vehicle's second stage separation had affected the on-board sensors data and a software built into the rocket had taken corrective actions to perform the satellite injection. However, the satellites were not injected into the requisite orbit and also lacked the velocity to remain in a stable orbit. This meant that the payloads were lost and mission was unsuccessful, though many of the vehicle's flight parameters were demonstrated well.

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