On December 17, 2020 India’s communication satellite CMS-01 was successfully launched by Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) PSLV-C50 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.CMS-01 is India’s 42nd communication satellite.
CMS-01 is the first communication satellite that ISRO has orbited under its new satellite naming scheme.
i.The satellite CMS-01 was successfully launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
ii.It will provide Telecom services in the Extended-C band of the Frequency spectrum. The Extended-C band coverage includes Indian mainland, Andaman-Nicobar & Lakshadweep islands.
iii.It has a mission life of 7 years and will replace GSAT-12 (Geostationary Satellite) satellite launched in 2011.
Highlights:
i.It is the 52nd Flight of PSLV & 22nd Flight PSLV ‘XL’ variant. The XL variant has 6 additional strap-ons.
ii.This is also the 77th Launch vehicle mission from Sriharikota Spaceport.
iii.Godrej Aerospace played a major role in manufacturing of the Vikas Contour Engine, which propelled the 2nd stage of rocket & satellite thrusters.
Future Launches:
i.ISRO has stated that the next rocket PSLV-C51 will fly in February-March 2021, it will carry
- India’s First Private earth observation satellite ‘ANAND’ developed by a Bengaluru based startup company Syzygy Space Technologies Pvt Ltd, commonly known as Pixxel.
- A communication satellite ‘SATISH SAT’ built by students as part of SpaceKidz.
- ‘UNITY-SAT’ satellite built by partnership of 3 Indian universities.
- Primary payload of the PSLV-C51 being a Brazilian satellite ‘Amazonia-1’ which weighs 600-700 kilograms.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV):
i.It is a 3rd Generation launch vehicle designed & developed by ISRO. PSLV is the 1st Indian Launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
ii.It has totally launched 51 Satellites (Success – 48, Failure – 2), notable of them being Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 & Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013.
iii.PSLV is used to launch Low Earth Orbit satellites into Polar & Sun Synchronous Orbits.
iv.PSLV has 3 variants – PSLV-G (Generic), PSLV-CA (Core Alone), PSLV-XL.
About Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO):
List of Operational Launchers in ISRO – PSLV, GSLV (Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) & GSLV MkIII.
Chairman – K Sivan
Headquarter – Bengaluru, Karnataka
