ISRO Reschedules SSLV Launch To August 16

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has rescheduled the launch of its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) developmental flight to August 16 from August 15 which coincided with Independence Day. In its announcement of the rescheduled date on X on Monday, ISRO said the launch window of (SSLV)-D3/EOS-08 Mission would be one hour starting 9:17am.

This will be ISRO’s third launch mission of the year and SSLV’s last demonstration flight; a key milestone in determining the rocket’s readiness and reliability after which it would be transferred to the industry. “This flight completes the SSLV Development Project and enables operational missions by Indian industry and NSIL,” ISRO posted on its website.

The satellite, EOS-08, weighs 175.5 kg and carries advanced technologies crucial for its mission. The SSLV distinguishes itself by its rapid assembly capability, taking less than a week compared to the 45 days required for other rockets. It is tailored for deploying small satellites weighing under 500 kg into Earth’s orbit and features three primary payloads. One of the three has been designed to capture detailed images of Earth around the clock, another to analyse Earth’s features such as oceans, mountains, snow cover, and forests, and the last one to measure ultraviolet radiation in space.

The third payload is particularly significant as it supports preparations for India’s upcoming Gaganyaan mission, the country’s first manned spaceflight.

The electro-optical infrared payload, which captures earth images round the clock, is suitable for applications such as satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activity observation, and industrial and power plant disaster monitoring, ISRO said.