Isro’s PSLV-45 puts EMISAT, 28 customer satellites in orbit

PSLV-C45, the launch vehicle’s 47th mission, took off from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota with electronic intelligence satellite EMISAT as well as 28 other satellites, including one from Spain, two from Lithuania, one from Switzerland and 24 from the United States, as part of its payload.

Weighing about 436 kg, EMISAT based on Isro’s Indian Mini Satellite -2 (IMS-2) bus platform. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement.

The PS4 engine was shut down since the launch vehicle reached the desired altitude for the first phase and was restarted at 11:10 am to put the 28 other satellites into space.

The PS4 orbital platform is envisaged to provide a microgravity environment for research organisations and academic institutes to perform experiments. In this mission, the PS4 hosts three payloads, namely, Automatic Identification System (AIS) from Isro, Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), India and Advanced Retarding Potential Analyzer for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS) from Indian Institute of Space Science and technology (IIST).

The 28 international customer satellites are from four countries, viz, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland and USA. All these satellites are being launched under commercial arrangements.

PSLV-C45 successfully injected the 28 satellites in Phase-2 of the mission in the 504 km orbit. After completing this, the PSLV-C45 is now heading towards the 485 km orbit to test the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), Automatic Identification System (AIS) from Isro, and the Advanced Retarding Potential Analyzer (ARIS) from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST).