It may look like yet another rocket launch when PSLV-C7, carrying four satellites, takes off from Sriharikota Space Centre.
One of the satellites on PSLV-C7 will return to Earth after 12 days in space
CHENNAI: It may look like yet another rocket launch when PSLV-C7, carrying four satellites, takes off from Sriharikota Space Centre (SHAR) on January 10. But, after the plumes of smoke have dissipated and the satellites have been put in orbit, scientists will be waiting for another first: return of one of the satellites to earth.
Considered a precursor to India's ambitious manned mission to space, the 550-kg Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) satellite will 'land' in the Bay of Bengal, some 140 km east of Sriharikota, after orbiting the earth for 12 days.
“We are pretty excited. We have done several rehearsals for the recovery of the satellite, but this is our first full-fledged attempt at re-entry technology,” Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) director BN Suresh told DNA.
Thermal protection and hypersonic aerodynamics have been the biggest challenges for developing the capsule. SRE, with a spherical top, a conical middle and a base of two metres diameter, will have to protect itself from intense heat (2000 degrees Celsius) as it re-enters the atmosphere.
“After SRE spends 12 days in space, we will change its circular orbit — 635 km from earth - to an elliptical orbit before de-orbiting it using a solid motor. Thereafter, the autonomous control and re-entry system within the capsule will take over.
The in-built system and two parachutes will bring down its velocity from 7.8 km/sec in orbit to 12 m/sec just before the touch down. The capsule floats on water and starts sending signals to the base stations including SHAR and a ship in the Bay of Bengal for recovery,” says Suresh.
While SRE will host two major experiments, one on the growth of quasi crystals in microgravity and the other on the growth of inorganic materials in protein gel. The success of SRE will buttress India's efforts to build space vehicles that can come back to earth, so far mastered by a few countries such as the US, China, Japan and the European Union.
Scientists, however, call SRE the VIP co-passenger of Cartosat, which is the main payload of PSLV-C7. The second generation cartosat, used for urban and rural infrastructure mapping, weighs 680 kg and will be put in a 635-km orbit.
PSLV-C7 carries two other satellites - an Indonesian satellite called LAPAN — Tubsat weighing 56 kg and an Argentinian microsatellite weighing six kg.
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