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India Launches METSAT into Orbit with Improved PSLV Rocket
By Jim Banke
Senior Producer, Cape Canaveral Bureau
posted: 08:00 am ET
12 September 2002
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- India's first satellite dedicated to weather observations was launched into Earth orbit Thursday riding atop an improved version of the nation's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), according to news media reports in India. Liftoff from the recently rechristened Satish Dhawan Space Center on the southeast coast of India was at 6:20 a.m. EDT (1020 GMT), 20 minutes into the 65-minute launch window. The meteorology satellite known as METSAT was to have separated from the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket 21 minutes after launch. Media reports claim the launch was successful but do not yet specifically report that spacecraft separation happened as planned. The shot was the seventh for the PSLV rocket and the first time that a booster designed -- and named -- for sending satellites into orbits over the planet's poles was used to send a spacecraft on its way into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. That's an orbit that circles the planet over the equator at the same speed that Earth rotates, so the satellite appears to remain stationary over the same spot on the surface. METSAT also was the heaviest cargo ever lifted by the PSLV booster, weighing in at 2,337 pounds (1,060 kilograms). To achieve that feat required the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to modify the booster. The third stage had a lighter casing for its solid rocket motor, the liquid-fueled fourth stage held additional propellant and the rocket's nose cone was made of a lighter, composite material.Following spacecraft separation METSAT was to deploy its electricity-generating solar array and then use its onboard liquid-fueled engine to circularize its orbit and eventually settle into its final orbital slot of 74 degrees east longitude, where it will observe weather conditions below. Previous weather monitoring services were incorporated into the communication satellites built under the INSAT series. By launching this dedicated weather satellite on its own Indian launcher, ISRO officials hope to lower their cost of launching spacecraft by not having to rely on foreign commercial firms such as Europe's Arianespace. The most recent launch of a PSLV was on Oct. 22. It carried a trio of satellites -- Technology Experiment Satellite from India, BIRD from Germany and PROBA from Belgium. The Indian space agency is developing a more powerful rocket designed to routinely carry satellites into geosynchronous orbit. It is known as the GSLV rocket and successfully flew once in April 2001.
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