I know those nano satellites were meant to be a 'flock', but I did not think it would be literally so. Were they meant to be deployed so close together? Reminded me of the bumper-to-bumper traffic on Indian roads at peak hours.. Whew! 😓
This video seem much better. Notice 1:07 mins onwards. Enjoy
Happy to report that all of the 88 Doves are happy, healthy, and rotating in real-time!
If I'm not mistaken the doves launched from the ISS also tumble when this door unfolds during deployment.
The Unique Triumph of PSLV-C37On February 15, 2017, PSLV-C37, the 39th mission of the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO, injected ISRO’s Cartosat-2 Series Satellite weighing 714 kg and two ISRO Nano-satellites namely INS-1A (8.4 kg) & INS-1B (9.7 kg) and 101 Nano-satellites, from six foreign countries into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at an orbit of 506 km above earth, with an inclination of 97.46°. The mass of nano-satellites varied from 1 to 10 kg. The total weight of all the 104 satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was 1378 kg.The large number of satellites in this mission demanded adopting innovative approaches in satellite accommodation and mission design.Apart from conventional satellite adapters, namely, Payload Adapter (PLA) and Multiple Satellite Adapter (MSA), six numbers of custom made adapters were newly configured and used to house the nano satellites. Some of these adapters allowed multi tier mounting of satellites and few of them were accommodated on the Vehicle Equipment Bay itself. This architecture enabled the optimal utilisation of the payload volume as well as capability.Next requirement was managing safe separation of these large numbers of satellites within the constraints of limited visibility duration of ground stations and maintaining safe distance between the separated satellites over a longer period of time.This was managed by designing a unique sequencing and timing for separating the satellites and with complex manoeuvering of PS4 stage to which satellites are attached. The separation sequence, direction and timing were finalised based on extensive study to ensure safe distance among the 105 objects (including PS4 stage) in orbit, which renders 5460 number of pairs.The next major requirement was to ensure reaching separation command from launcher to respective satellites honoring the predefined sequence, which involves a complex electrical wiring scheme. Any error in the wiring may result in release of wrong satellite leading to undesirable situation of collision between them.Another innovative feature in this mission was capturing all the separation events of vehicle stages and 104 satellites using a comprehensive video imaging system onboard.Meticulous planning was done at launch complex, SDSC SHAR on assembling and handling of all sub systems and satellite preparation. Apart from launching SSO, sub GTO and multi orbit missions, PSLV has established once again as a workhorse vehicle to undertake very complex missions like PSLV-C37.
The separation sequence, direction and timing were finalised based on extensive study to ensure safe distance among the 105 objects (including PS4 stage) in orbit, which renders 5460 number of pairs.
First day Images from Cartosat -2D
What's poor about resolving cars from space?
Quote from: vineethgk on 02/20/2017 09:50 amFirst day Images from Cartosat -2DWhy the quality of even the monochrome image is so poor. Is it because of the calibration issue or this is the max the Cartosat can do.
Quote from: gwiz on 02/25/2017 02:59 pmWhat's poor about resolving cars from space?The Cartosat is supposed to have 25cm resolution
While the 101 foreign satellites that flew on the PSLV C37 on February 15 and ISRO’s own 714 kg Cartosat-2 mapping satellite have stabilised and reported back to Earth stations with the first bits of data, two experimental Indian nano satellites – INS-1A and INS-1B weighing 8.4 kg and 9.7 kg – are yet to achieve stability to begin operations.
While ISRO has put out the first set of images taken by the Cartosat 2 series satellite, there has been no information about INS-1 A and INS 1-B since their launch even as data from some sites monitoring the satellites have indicated that the two have not stabilised despite over 10 days in space.“Attempts are being made to stabilise the experimental nano satellites that were launched. The efforts are still on,’’ ISRO director for publicity D P Karnik said.The two nano satellites are being monitored by the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. The experimental nano satellites are carrying instruments from ISRO’s Space Application Centre and the Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems. The data gathered will be used for internal purposes.“The nano satellites are an experimental class of satellites introduced by ISRO because there are many requests to use them for data collection for academic institutions. The universities do not have the knowledge to build satellites and tend to take a long time to build them. We want them to focus on the instruments since we can provide the nano satellite bus,’’ an ISRO official said. The ISRO official said ISTRAC was still in touch with the two small satellites launched 10 days ago.
