India (Commonwealth Union)_ Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX and Twitter, conveyed his wishes to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on the successful launch of two Singapore-manufactured satellites using its indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from its spaceport in Sriharikota. Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, recently tested his Starship rocket successfully.
Elon Musk responded to a tweet from India’s premier space agency announcing the mission’s triumph. ISRO had tweeted that the PSLV-C55/TeLEOS-2 mission had been accomplished successfully, with the vehicle placing TeLEOS-2 and LUMELITE-4 satellites precisely into their intended 586 km circular orbit. In response, Musk tweeted, “Congratulations!” ISRO tweeted, “PSLV- C55/TeLEOS-2 mission is accomplished successfully. In a textbook launch, the vehicle placed TeLEOS-2 and LUMELITE-4 satellites precisely into their intended 586 km circular orbit”. In response, Elon Musk tweeted, “Congratulations!”.
The TeLEOS-2 and Lumelite 4 satellites form part of the order secured by NewSpace India Ltd, the commercial subsidiary of ISRO. The PSLV C55 mission used the ‘integrate, transfer, and launch’ concept with the PSLV integration facility at Sriharikota. In addition, it is also ISRO’s 16th flight utilizing the PSLV Core Alone configuration. In December 2015, a PSLV-C29 rocket successfully deployed the TeLEOS-1 satellite along with five other Singaporean spacecraft. The current launch follows this success.
PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-2 (POEM-2) was created by ISRO as an orbital platform for performing scientific experiments with non-separating payloads. While announcing the success of the PSLV satellite mission, ISRO Chief S Somanath stated that POEM-2 would “write some more poems” with seven payloads. The payloads are owned by ISRO, Bellatrix, Dhruva Space, and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, with a “deployable solar panel for the first time in a rocket’s upper stage.” Somanath remarked that this was yet another exciting event.
To conduct the procedure, scientists would energize the payloads on POEM-2. Further, a terrestrial command would be used to position the platform’s solar panel so that it faces the Sun. Somanath stated that ISRO is deploying solar panels in the fourth stage of a rocket for the first time. The platform will ensure that the deployed solar panel is correctly oriented towards the Sun using the special sun-pointing mode, thereby enhancing the power generation capabilities. Power would be allocated to payloads and avionic devices depending on their requirements.
