PSLV C18 puts 4 satellites in orbit

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18) demonstrated its reliability and consistency yet again when it put four satellites in orbit with aplomb on 12 October 2011.PSLV C18 lift-off from the spaceport at Sriharikota at 11 a.m. on October 12, 2011. The rocket put 4 satellites in the orbit. The 4 Satellites are: –

• Megha-Tropiques, built by India and France to recognize global tropical weather and climate
  
• SRM Sat, built by the students of SRM University, Chennai
  
• Jugnu, a satellite integrated by students of IIT, Kanpur
  
• VesselSat from Luxembourg
  

Megha-Tropiques (Megha in Sanskrit means cloud and Tropiques in French is tropics) will aid comprehend the conduct of Indian monsoons and episodes of cyclones, floods and droughts. It is one of the highly developed and sophisticated satellites built to supervise the weather in the short-term and climate in the long-term in the tropical regions of the world. It is a combined venture of ISRO and the French space agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Megha-Troupiques a 1,000-kg satellite had been built to examine the tropical areas which experienced the highest energy from the sun than they radiated back into space and this surplus energy obtainwd in the tropical areas is utilized as a thermal engine and allows dissemination in the atmosphere and the oceans.

There are 4 payloads in the satellite:-

• MADRAS (Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures), built by ISRO and the CNES, will furnish an evaluation of rainfall, water vapour, liquid water, ice and surface wind
  
• SCARAB (Scanner for Radiative Budget) built by CNES will analyze the radiation received by the earth and reflected by it
  
• SAPHIR (Sondeur Atmospherique du Profil d’humidite Intertropicale par Radiometrie) built by CNES will examine the humidity present in the tropical atmosphere
  
• GPS-ROS (Global Positioning System- Radio Occultation System) from Italy will analyze the temperature and humidity at various altitudes.
  

The full satellite was integrated by the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore

1. SRM Satwill (a 10 Kg Satellite built by the students of SRM University, Chennai) to aid in studying global warming and pollution by analyzing CO₂ and CO present in the atmosphere
   
2. Jugnu (a 3 Kg a satellite integrated by students of IIT, Kanpur) bears a camera in order to take pictures of the Earth to monitor, vegetation, reservoirs, lakes, and ponds
   
3. VesselSat (from Luxembourg) will assist in locating the ships in the sea-lanes of the world.
   

PSLV-C18 , the 20^th PSLV to be launched is core-alone version of the 4-stage PSLV, without the strap-on booster motors that placed the 4 satellites in orbit.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2011