New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch two satellites from Singapore through its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh Saturday.
The commercial launch, scheduled for 2:19 pm, will be carrying TeLEOS-2 as primary satellite and Lumelite-4 as a co-passenger satellite, weighing a total of 757 kg, ISRO said about the ‘PSLV-C55/TeLEOS-2 mission’.
“This is a dedicated commercial mission through NSIL (NewSpace India Limited) with TeLEOS-2 as primary satellite and Lumelite-4 as a co-passenger satellite,” ISRO said, adding: “The satellites weigh about 741 kg and 16 kg, respectively. Both belong to Singapore. They are intended to be launched into an Eastward low inclination orbit.”
If successful, this will be 57th flight of PSLV and will take the number of foreign satellites launched through it to 424. The two satellites will be put into a 586 km circular orbit.
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The payload
The TeLEOS-2 satellite is a Singaporean Earth Observation satellite that carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) capable of providing 1 m resolution data. It’s developed under a partnership between Singapore government’s DSTA (Defence Science and Technology Agency) and the publicly listed Singaporean company ST Engineering.
According to ISRO, TeLEOS-2 will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Singapore government. It will be able to provide all-weather day and night coverage, and be capable of imaging at 1m full-polarimetric resolution, ISRO said.
The second one, LUMELITE-4, is a satellite co-developed by the Singapore government’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the National University of Singapore for the technological demonstration of the High-Performance Space-borne VHF Data Exchange System (VDES). The VDES communication payload, according to ISRO, aims to “augment Singapore’s e-navigation maritime safety and benefit the global shipping cAommunity”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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