Chennai: ISRO Chairman K Sivan said young scientists will shape the future of India and also asked the students to bring their satellites to the space agency which will help in launching them.
He was speaking after the successful launch of PSLV C44 from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota at 11.37 pm Thursday.
Sivan said we must strive for science-oriented India. ‘I hope the student community will make use of this opportunity being provided by ISRO. This new low cost technology will help students to conduct several inspiring experiments in space by attaching their instruments to the last stage of the rocket,’ Sivan said.
In its 46th flight, PSLV successfully injected Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2 satellites into their designated orbits.
About 13 minutes 26 seconds after lift-off, Microsat-R was successfully injected into intended orbit of 274 km. After injection, two solar arrays of the satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO Telemetry Tracking & Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite.
Subsequently, the fourth stage (PS4) of the vehicle was moved to a higher circular orbit of 453 km after two restarts of the stage, to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments.
Kalamsat-V2, a student payload, first to use PS4 as an orbital platform, was taken to its designated orbit about 1 hour and 40 minutes after lift-off. This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-DL, a new variant of PSLV with two strap-on motors.
Mission Director R Hutton thanked the entire PSLV-C44 team for their relentless efforts in making the launch successful.
Earlier in the day, Sivan held the third edition of Samwad with Students (SwS) in Sriharikota. Over 300 students from schools in and around the region had an opportunity to interact with him. SwS is the newly-launched outreach initiative of ISRO to instill scientific temper among youngsters. The first edition was held in Bengaluru 1 January and the second one at Kochi 20 January.