Banagalore: The Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO) on Sunday launched its 100th successful space mission with the workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which placed two foreign satellites in the orbit. Indian prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh witnessed the PSLV-C21 ejecting France’s SPOT 6 satellite and Japanese spacecraft PROTIERES after some 1129 seconds of the lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

After being delayed by 2 minutes at the end of the 51-hour countdown, the PSLV made its 22nd flight at 9.53 AM. This was the 21st successful mission of PSLV in a row since its first failed flight in September 1993. The two minute delay occurred to avoid collision with space debris.

The French Spot 6 with a weight of 720 kg is the heaviest satellite to be launched by India for a foreign client. The satellites is 300 kg’s more than 350 kg Agile for Italy, launched by PSLV in 2007.

PSLV-C21 lifts-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre

In total ISRO has launched 62 satellites, one Space Recovery Module and 37 rockets. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the commencement of Indian space programme

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh congratulated ISRO scientists and said that the historic launch is a testimony for the commercial competitiveness of the Indian Space Program. “We owe a great deal to pioneers like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Prof. Satish Dhawan. I remember working closely with Prof. Dhawan when I was a Member of the Space Commission in the late 1970s, and I am privileged to have had this long association with our space endeavours. It is befitting that this new state-of-the-art mission control centre has been named after Prof. Satish Dhawan,” he said.

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The Chandrayaan-2, second Indian moon orbiter is expected to blast of in 2013 with Indian and Russian payload. Unlike last time, this looks like an entirely Indian affair with just one Moon Lander from Russia.

ISRO says that the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will weigh around 2,650 kg at lift-off. The orbiter is expected to weigh around 1,400 kg and the lander would weigh around 1,250 kg. Development of the subsystems of the orbiter and the rover is in progress at ISRO centres in Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad.

The five recommended payloads of Chandrayaan-2 orbiter are as follows:

1. Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) from ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore and Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) from Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad for mapping the major elements present on the lunar surface.
2. L and S band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad for probing the first few tens of meters of the lunar surface for the presence of different constituents including water ice. SAR is expected to provide further evidence confirming the presence of water ice below the shadowed regions of the moon.
3. Imaging IR Spectrometer (IIRS) from SAC, Ahmedabad for the mapping of lunar surface over a wide wavelength range for the study of minerals, water molecules and hydroxyl present.
4. Neutral Mass Spectrometer (ChACE2) from Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), Thiruvananthapuram to carry out a detailed study of the lunar exosphere.
5. Terrain Mapping Camera2 (TMC2) from SAC, Ahmedabad for preparing a three-dimensional map essential for studying the lunar mineralogy and geology.

The two scientific payloads on Chandrayaan-2 rover are:

1. Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) from Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems (LEOS), Bangalore
2. Alpha Particle Induced X ray Spectroscope (APIXS) from PRL, Ahmedabad.

ISRO says that it plans to use Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for Chandrayaan-2 mission and would be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

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