PSLV - POLAR SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE - SSO/LEO BOOSTER

P S L V - C3
Gallery

The PSLV is the workhorse rocket of ISRO with an outstanding success rate amongst medium lift rocket systems. The success of the POLAR Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an important milestone for the Indian space industry. India has achieved self-sufficiency in launching its operational satellites. The PSLV is a unique vehicle which employs both liquid and solid fuel engines, and it is ISRO's workhorse. The PSLV can place a satellite weighing about three tonnes in low earth orbit (LEO), at a height of 400 to 600 kms. It can also deploy satellites weighing up to 1,500 kg in Polar Sun Synchronous orbit at a height of 750 kms above the earth, as it has done in the case of the Indian Remote-Sensing Satellites (IRS) constellation. This versatile and flexible vehicle can handle a LEO, a polar and a GTO orbit. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram is the key centre for building the PSLV. Its director and presently ISRO chairman Shri. G Madhavan Nair, is acknowledged as the "father of the PSLV programme". PSLV was initially designed for launching 900 kg Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) into a 900 km polar sun synchronous orbit. Since its first launch in 1993, it has been successively improved to enhance its capability. The latest PSLV configuration is 44.4 metre tall and weighs 295 tonnes. The changes include improvements made in the performance of the third stage solid propellant motor by optimising the motor case and propellant loading. Also the propellant in the fourth stage liquid motor was increased from 2.0 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes. Besides this, the PSLV now employs a carbon composite payload adapter, resulting in substantial payload advantage. PSLV has four stages using solid and the Vikas liquid propulsion engines alternately.
The First Stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world and carries 138 tonne of Hydroxyl Terminated Poly Butadiene (HTPB) based propellant. It has a diameter of 2.8 m. The motor case is made of maraging steel. The booster develops a maximum thrust of about 4,628 kilo Newtons (kN). Six strap-on motors, four of which are ignited on the ground, augment the first stage thrust. Each of these solid propellant strap-on motors carries nine tonne of HTPB propellant and produces 662 kN thrust.
The Second Stage employs indigenously manufactured Vikas liquid engine which carries 40.0 ton of 'Unsymmetrical Di-Methyl Hydrazine' (UDMH) propellant as fuel and Nitrogen Tetroxide as oxidizer. It generates a maximum thrust of about 725 Kn.
The Third Stage uses 7.6 tonne of HTPB-based solid propellant and produces a maximum thrust of 260 kN. Its motor case is made of polyaramide fibre composite.
The Fourth and the Terminal Stage of PSLV has a twin engine configuration using liquid propellant. With a propellant loading of 2.5 tonne (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen), each of these engines generate a maximum thrust of 7.4 kN. The 3.2 m diameter metallic bulbous payload fairing of PSLV protects the spacecraft during the atmospheric regime of the flight. PSLV employs a large number of stage auxiliary systems for stage separation, heat-shield separation and equipment jettisoning. 

 PSLV Control Systems 

    First Stage: Secondary Injection Thrust Vector Control (SITVC) for pitch and yaw, liquid propellant thrusters for roll with SITVC in two strap-on motors for roll control augmentation.
    Second Stage: Engine gimbal for pitch and yaw and, hot gas reaction control system for roll.
    Third Stage:Flex nozzle for pitch and yaw and liquid propellant thrusters in pulse mode for roll control.
    Fourth Stage: Engine gimbal for pitch. Yaw and role and, on-off RCS for control during the coast phase. The main on-board instrumentation packages used for telemetry, tracking and command are-       PCM/S-band telemetry systems, C-band transponders, besides a host of power and signal conditioning packages.

 Launch Updates 

First Developmental Flight 20 Sep 1993 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-D1 from Sriharikota Spacecraft: IRS-1
Second Developmental Flight 15 Oct 1994 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-D2 from Sriharikota Spacecraft: IRS-P2 Mass: 870 kgs
Third Developmental Flight 21 Mar 1996 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-D3 from Sriharikota Spacecraft: IRS-P3 Mass: 930 kgs
First Operational Flight 29 Sep 1997 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C1 (Continuous 1) from Sriharikota Spacecraft: IRS-1D Mass: 1003 Kgs
Second Operational Flight 26 May 1999 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C2 (Continuous 2) from Sriharikota Spacecrafts: IRS-P4 (OceanSat) Mass: 1,036 kgs, Kitsat-3 45 Kgs, DLR-Tubsat 45 Kgs)
Third Operational Flight 22 October 2001 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C3 (Continuous 3) from Sriharikota Spacecraft: TES Total Mass: 1,108 Kgs,  PROBA- 94 Kgs, BIRD 92 Kgs
Fourth Operational Flight 12 September 2002 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C4 (Continuous 4) from Sriharikota (now called Prof. Satish Dhawan Space Center) Spacecraft: METSAT Total Mass: 1,055 Kgs
Fifth Operational Flight 17 October 2003 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C5 (Continuous 5) Spacecraft: RESOURCESAT-1 Total Mass: 1,360 Kgs
Sixth Operational Flight 5 May 2005 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C6 (Continuous 6) Spacecraft: CARTOSAT-1 Total Mass: 1,560 Kgs
Seventh Operational Flight 10 January 2007 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C7 (Continuous 7) Spacecraft: CARTOSAT-2 Total Mass: 680 Kgs, SRE-1 550 Kgs, LAPAN-TUBSAT 56 Kgs, PEHUENSAT-1 6 Kgs
Eight Operational Flight 23 April 2007 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C8 (Continuous 8) Spacecraft: AGILE (Italian Astronomical Spacecraft) Total Mass: 325 Kgs, Advanced Avionics Module (AAM) Total Mass: 185 Kgs
Ninth Operational Flight 21 January 2008 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C10 (Continuous 10) Spacecraft: TECHSAR (Israeli Spy Satellite) Total Mass: 300 Kgs
Tenth Operational Flight 28 April 2008 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C9 (Continuous 9) Spacecraft: CARTOSAT-2A Total Mass: 690 Kgs
Eleventh Operational Flight 22 October 2008 on Launch Vehicle PSLV-C11 (Continuous 11) Spacecraft: CHANDRAYAAN-1 Total Mass: 1390 Kgs