CHENNAI : The 54 hr 30min countdown for the launch of PSLV-C32/IRNSS-1F Mission on March 10 started at 0930 hrs at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 100 km from here, this morning.
About 20 minutes after the lift off from the Second Launch Pad at 1600 hrs on Thursday, the ISRO’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV-C32 would place India’s the sixth navigational satellite IRNSS-1F in the orbit.
ISRO sources said the Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) met at the SHAR Range last evening and cleared the 54 and half hour countdown starting at 0930 hrs today and also the launch of the PSLV-C32/IRNSS-1F Mission.
During the countdown, propellant filling operations would be taken up in the four stage vehicle, the sources added.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said with 33 successive successful missions, the PSLV-C32, after a flight duration of about 20 minutes, will place IRNSS-1F, the sixth satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), in the sub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (sub GTO), with a perigee of 284 km (nearest point to earth) and an apogee of 20,657 km (farthest point to earth) with an inclination of 17.86 deg to the equatorial plane.
As in the previous five launches of IRNSS satellites, PSLV-C32, in its 34th flight, would use ?XL? version of PSLV.
This is the 12th time XL configuration would be flown, the earlier 11 being PSLV-C11/Chandrayaan-1, PSLV-C17/GSAT-12, PSLV-C19/RISAT-1, PSLV-C22/IRNSS-1A, PSLV-C25/Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, PSLV-C24/IRNSS-1B, PSLV-C26/IRNSS-1C, PSLV-C27/IRNSS-1D, PSLV-C28/DMC-3, PSLV-C30/ASTROSAT and PSLV-C31 IRNSS-IE missions.
The sources said IRNSS-1F is the sixth navigation satellite of the constellation of seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment.
Once the seven satellites were launched into the space, India would join the elite group of nations to have its own navigational system that would be on par with the GPS of the United States. ISRO was expected to complete the constellation in the next couple of month.
IRNSS-1F’s predecessors, IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E were launched by PSLV-C22, PSLV-C24, PSLV-C26, PSLV-C27 and PSLV-C31 in July 2013, April 2014, October 2014, March 2015 and January 2016 respectively.
With a life span of 12 years, IRNSS-1F will have a lift-off mass of 1425 kg.
The configuration of IRNSS-1F is similar to that of IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C 1D and 1E.
IRNSS-1F carries two types of payloads -? navigation payload and ranging payload.
The navigation payload of IRNSS-1F will transmit navigation service signals to the users. This payload will be operating in L5-band and S-band.
”A highly accurate Rubidium atomic clock is part of the navigation payload of the satellite”, the sources said, adding, the ranging payload of IRNSS-1F consists of a C-band transponder which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite.
The IRNSS-1F also carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging.
(AGENCIES)
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