99 not out: Behind ISRO's launch success, a tale of grit and audacity

CHENNAI: It was back in 1979. In a country where more than half the population, which was more than 300 million, went to bed on empty stomach, and an even larger number of people were illiterate, a group of ambitious experts tried something audacious: they launched a satellite, a feat that was only achieved by the giants of the world like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US and then Soviet Space Programme (now Federal Space Agency – Roscosmos – of Russia). The attempt by the fledgling Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ended in failure.

Forty-five years later, the space agency is all geared up for its 100th launch, placing India firmly in an elite club of space-faring nations, including the US, Russia, and China. If all goes as per plan, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) F15 will take off from the second launch pad in ISRO’s spaceport in Sriharikota on Wednesday (January 29).

The 100th launch will put the NVS-02 satellite into the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) system to replace IRNSS-1E, one of the first-generation NavIC satellites. NVS-02 will join the NVS-01 satellite that was launched in May 2023.

90% SUCCESS RATE

Since tasting failure in the first-ever attempt when SLV-3E1 could not send the Rohini Technology Payload satellite into space in August 1979, ISRO has failed only eight times. The last was the unsuccessful mission by GSLV-F10 to launch EOS-03 satellite in August 2021.

In all, ISRO launched 120 satellites, including 3 nanosatellites and 1 microsatellite successfully over the years. Its rockets also ferried 18 satellites made by private firms or students either as main payloads or piggybacks.

Over the years, the Indian space agency emerged as a reliable carrier, launching satellites even for developed nations. Between 1999 and the end of 2024, it carried 433 payloads, most of them on its workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This rocket has the ability to carry up to 1,750 kg to sun-synchronous orbit.

The agency and the experts who steered it gained confidence along the way, which was reflected in the number of launches they did every year. For instance, it launched only 13 missions between 1979 and 2000, four of which were unsuccessful. But in 2016, it scripted history with nine missions with 100% success.

This is no ordinary feat for a space organisation that was first given a space in a church in Thumba in Kerala to operate. The journey was far from smooth, as ISRO had faced a sanction from the US that stopped the transfer of cryogenic engine technology from Russia. This crippled its capability to launch heavier satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

But refusing to be bogged down by the failure in 2010, the ISRO scientists successfully launched GSAT-14, a much heavier satellite, into orbit using Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) D5, the cryogenic technology of which was developed indigenously.

HOPEFUL FUTURE

Starting from scratch, its arms reached the Moon, Mars, and even the Sun when it placed the Aditya-L1 satellite into the Halo Orbit in January 2024.

Now, ISRO is eyeing to send humans to space and construct a space station. The ambitious Gaganyaan project, India’s first crewed mission, is being expedited after it received approval from the Union Cabinet in December 2018.

On January 21, the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) in Bengaluru dispatched the crew module for the first unscrewed mission of Gaganyaan to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram for further integration. Now, ISRO is planning to run three uncrewed missions before finally sending astronauts.

In the most recent milestone, it successfully completed the docking of two SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) satellites on January 16, making India the only fourth country to perform such an operation in space after the US, Russia and China – countries that already have space stations. The technology is essential for missions such as sample return from the Moon and Indian on Moon.

With the docking technology in hand and the Gaganyaan mission progressing, India can finally have a coveted place in space, literally: the Bharatiya Antarkish Station.

Among other achievements include three consecutive, successful tests of Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Landing Experiments (LEX). The third and final test was conducted in June 2024. The RLVs will reduce the cost of satellite launches to just one-tenth.

NVS-02, the satellite travelling on milestone launch

The 100th launch of ISRO will carry the NVS-02 satellite up to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It will use the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) F15 rocket for the launch, which will be carried out in the early morning of Wednesday from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

GSLV-F15 will be the 17th flight of GSLV and 11th flight with an indigenous cryogenic stage. It will be the eighth operational flight of GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic stage. NVS-02 will become a part of the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) system.

NavIC is India’s independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide accurate position, velocity, and timing (PVT) service to users in India and to regions extending about 1,500 km beyond Indian land mass.

It will provide two types of services – Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS). NavIC’s SPS provides a position accuracy of better than 20 metres and timing accuracy of better than 40 nanoseconds over the service area.

Under the NavIC system, ISRO is planning to launch five second-generation satellites to augment the NavIC base layer constellation. NVS-01, the first of the second-generation satellites, was launched on board GSLV-F12 on May 29, 2023. For the first time, an indigenous atomic clock was flown in NVS-01.

NVS-02 will replace IRNSS-1E satellite. NVS-02 will use a combination of indigenous and procured atomic clocks for precise time estimation.

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