SRIHARIKOTA (TIP): ISRO’s LV D2 carrying EOS-07 satellite and two co-passenger payloads lifted off from the spaceport here on Friday, February 10. In its second developmental flight, LV D2 carried EOS-07, an earth observation satellite as its main payload and two others — Janus-1 built by US-based Antaris and Chennai-headquartered Space Kidz India‘s Azaadi SAT-2. This was ISRO’s maiden mission this year. At the end of a six-and-a-half hour countdown, the 34-metre-tall rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, even as ISRO has pinned hopes on it to lead the space agency to success in tapping the small satellite launch vehicle market.

The maiden flight of LV on August 7, 2022 was a partial failure due to an orbit anomaly and deviation in the flight path of the rocket. LV caters to the launch of up to 500kg satellites to low earth orbits on ‘launch-on-demand’ basis. It provides low-cost access to space, offers low turn-around time and flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, and demands minimal launch infrastructure.

EOS-07 is a 156.3kg satellite which has been designed, developed and realized by ISRO. New experiments include mm-Wave Humidity Sounder and Spectrum Monitoring Payload. While Janus-1 is a 10.2kg satellite, the 8.7kg AzaadiSAT-2 is a combined effort of about 750 girl students across India guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai.

The mission objective is to inject these satellites in a 450-km circular orbit.

(Source: PTI)