Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-55

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Context

• ISRO, is scheduled to launch the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C55 (PSLV-C55) mission on April 22 with Singapore’s TeLEOS-2 as primary satellite and Lumelite-4 as a co-passenger satellite.

Backdrop PSLV

• Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
• It is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle.
• It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun-synchronous orbits – a service that until the advent of the PSLV in 1993, was commercially available only from Russia.
• PSLV can also launch small size satellites into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).
• Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India's first interplanetary mission, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) and India's first space observatory, Astrosat.

About PSLV C-55

• The PSLV-C55 mission will be the 57th flight of PSLV and the 16th mission using the PSLV Core Alone configuration.
• The PSLV C55 rocket has four stages; each one was self-contained, with its own propulsion system, thereby capable of functioning independently.
• The first and third stages used composite solid propellants.
• The second and fourth stage use earth-storable liquid propellant.

What all is PSLV-C55 launching with?

• The PSLV-C55 mission will lift off with two big satellites with the

1. 1. TeLEOS-2, a Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite as the primary mission and
   2. Lumelite-4 a technology demonstration nano-satellite, will be a co-passenger satellite.

• The two satellites combined weigh around 757 kilograms.
• The two satellites are intended to be launched into an Eastward low-inclination orbit.

The satellites

TeLEOS-2 spacecraft

• The TeLEOS-2 spacecraft will provide imagery that could be used for hotspot monitoring and haze management, air crash search and rescue operations, and much more.
• It will provide all-weather day and night coverage and is capable of imaging at 1m full-polarimetric resolution.

READ

TELEOS-2: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/teleos-2

LUMELITE-4

• It has also been developed by Singapore and is an advanced 12U satellite designed for the technology demonstration of the High-Performance Space-borne VHF Data Exchange System (VDES).
• Using the VDES communication payload Lumelite-4 aims to augment Singapore’s e-navigation maritime safety and benefit the global shipping community.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/pslv-c55-mission-isro-to-carry-out-in-orbit-scientific-experiments-using-spent-ps4/article66758527.ece