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ASLV PSLV
GSLV SpaceFlight
India's Launch Vehicle
PSLV
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
C2 lifted off at 2:22 am EDT (0622 UT) from the
Indian Space Research Organization's launch facility at
Sriharikota, an island in southern India. The rocket successfully placed
three satellites into a 727-km (450-mi.) polar orbit.
The launch was the fourth success for the PSLV, a four-stage
rocket that uses a combination of solid- and liquid-propellant stages,
along with a set of strap-on boosters. In addition to the PSLV, which can
place about 1.2 tons into polar orbit, India is also developing the Geosynchronous
Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), capable of placing 2.5 tons into geosynchronous
orbit. More...
ASLV
The ASLV
was created by adding two additional boosters modified from the SLV-3's
first stage and by making other general improvements to the basic SLV-3
4 stage stack. The ASLV
is actually a five-stage vehicle since the core first stage does not ignite
until just before the booster rockets burn out. The payload capacity of
the ASLV is approximately 150 kg to an orbit of 400 km with a 47 degree
inclination.The first launch of the ASLV on 24 March 1987 failed when the
bottom stage of the core vehicle did not ignite after booster burn-out.
The second attempt ended with the Rohini payload falling into the Bay of
Bengal on 13 July 1988 when the vehicle became unstable and broke up soon
after release of the booster rockets. Finally, on 20 May 1992 the SROSS
3 (Stretched Rohini Satellite Series) was inserted into LEO by the third
ASLV. However, instead of obtaining a circular orbit near 400 km, the ASLV
only achieved a short-lived orbit of 256 km by 435 km, not unlike the degraded
performance of the SLV-3 launch of 31 May 1981.
The last ASLV mission in May, 1994 successfully
reached its programmed orbit of 434 km by
921 km. More...
SpaceFlight
Leading Sources of Online Space News.
Launch
Vehicle: India