Trending for Sep 28th launch.Source: recent interview (slide to 20:30) with Chairman, ISRO.
The satellite is scheduled for launch on board the launch vehicle PSLV C-30, on September 28 morning 10 am," Director, Public Relations, ISRO, Deviprasad Karnik told.
He said "now the vehicle assembly is almost completed; along with ASTROSAT there will be six co-passengers -- one satellite each from Indonesia and Canada, and four nano satellites from the US. These satellites have already arrived and those preparations are going on."
Astrosat weighs about 1.5 tons
Will be positioned at 650-km high equatorial orbit with a 6° inclination (to avoid South Atlantic Anomaly )
Life of the satellite is 10 years
The launch of PSLV-C30 carrying India's dedicated multi-wavelength astronomical observation satellite ASTROSAT along with six international customer satellites is scheduled at 10:00 am on Monday, September 28, 2015 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR.
Generally, in September, there is not much of a problem. The only conditions under which we will be forced to make changes are thunderstorms or high wind velocities in the higher reaches. These are the two conditions in which there will be a shift of the launch date. Otherwise, we do not foresee any problem. In previous launches, weather conditions have not resulted in the change of the launch date.
Performing 3 launches in 3 consecutive months is unprecedented for ISRO! Things are warming up. Exciting times ahead for the Indian space program.
Quote from: vineethgk on 09/16/2015 10:56 pmPerforming 3 launches in 3 consecutive months is unprecedented for ISRO! Things are warming up. Exciting times ahead for the Indian space program. We need to look at 4 consecutive launches(2 from each pad) to have complete turnaround cycle and hurray if it continues this way! It would be amazing if they complete 3 launches before year wraps up (not counting RLV-TD). And where is RLV stack exactly? We heard months ago it was integrated.. Is it hiding in SSAB ?
A nice Frontline article on "Evolution of the Astrosat"http://www.frontline.in/science-and-technology/evolution-of-the-astrosat-idea/article7655287.ece
Giant leap for ISROIndia’s eye in the sky
International customer satellites of PSLV-C30LAPAN-A2 is a Microsatellite from National Institute of Aeronautics and Space-LAPAN, Indonesia. LAPAN-A2 is meant for providing maritime surveillance using Automatic Identification System (AIS), supporting Indonesian radio amateur communities for disaster mitigation and carrying out Earth surveillance using video and digital camera.NLS-14 (Ev9), a Nanosatellite from Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto Institute for Advanced Studies (SFL, UTIAS), Canada. It is a maritime monitoring Nanosatellite using the next generation Automatic Identification System (AIS).Four LEMUR nano satellites from Spire Global, Inc. (San Francisco, CA), USA, are non-visual remote sensing satellites, focusing primarily on global maritime intelligence through vessel tracking via the Automatic Identification System (AIS), and high fidelity weather forecasting using GPS Radio Occultation technology.
PSLV-C30/ASTROSAT UPDATE countdown to start at 08:00hr IST on Saturday, Sep 26, 2015 and the launch on MONDAY, Sep 28,2015 at 10:00 hr IST
PSLV-C30 / ASTROSAT UPDATE: The 50 hr countdown activity of PSLV-C30/ASTROSAT Mission has started at 08:00 hr IST today
PSLV-C30 / ASTROSAT UPDATE: Mono Methyl Hydrazine (MMH) propellant filling operation of fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C30 is under progress
PSLV-C30 / ASTROSAT MISSION UPDATE: MMH propellant filling operation has been completed by 12:00 hr IST.
(1) The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT, capable of observing the sky in the Visible, Near Ultraviolet and Far Ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.(2) Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC, is designed for study the variations in the emission of X-rays from sources like X-ray binaries, Active Galactic Nuclei and other cosmic sources.(3) Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) is designed for studying how the X-ray spectrum of 0.3-8 keV range coming from distant celestial bodies varies with time.(4) Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI), functioning in the X-ray region, extends the capability of the satellite to sense X-rays of high energy in 10-100 keV range.(5) Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) is intended to scan the sky for long term monitoring of bright X-ray sources in binary stars, and for the detection and location of sources that become bright in X-rays for a short duration of time. According to Dr. Bhalerao, LAXPC is the best X-ray timing instrument so far. “Astronomical objects cannot be controlled. If you want to study something in a star, must catch it in its act. So it is important to monitor the sky,” he said about the Scanning Sky Monitor.
“ASTROSAT’s X-ray detectors can also cope with very bright objects that would saturate those on other satellites such as NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory or ESA’s X-ray Multi-Mirror (XXM-Newton) mission.”