The ISRO PSLV Rocket Countdown Is Still On: There Is No Risk From Cyclone Fengal

The European Space Agency (ESA) has assigned the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) the mission of launching a special pair of satellites that are intended to mimic a total solar eclipse.

Sriharikota Island: The countdown for ISRO's workhorse rocket, which is scheduled to launch in a few hours, has not been slowed down by the powerful Cyclone Fengal, which hit the Tamil Nadu coast along the Bay of Bengal earlier this week. NDTV was informed by ISRO experts based at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre that the "countdown is progressing normally, and the weather is favourable for a nominal lift-off at 4:08 pm."

As the storm moved farther south, India's rocket port, which is situated on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal, managed to escape the cyclone's wrath.Cyclonic activity has caused rocket launches to be delayed on multiple occasions, but this time around the circumstances are still ideal.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has directed India's workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), to launch a special pair of satellites in its 61st flight. The satellites are intended to fly in precise formation in space to mimic a total solar eclipse.

At 4:08 p.m. on Wednesday, the PSLV-C59 will launch the Proba-3 satellites from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. According to ISRO, the vehicle will launch the Proba-3 spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit as part of a specific commercial mission run by ISRO's commercial division, New Space India Limited (NSIL).

The ESA's Proba-3 in-orbit demonstration (IOD) mission aims to demonstrate cutting-edge formation-flying technologies. The Coronagraph Spacecraft (CSC) and the Occulter Spacecraft (OSC) are its two spacecraft. Together, these will be launched in a stacked arrangement.

Together, the two satellites weigh 545 kilograms, and the 44.5-meter-tall PSLV rocket, which weighs 320 tonnes at liftoff, will carry them into space. The satellites will be deployed at 600 kilometers above Earth around 18 minutes after launch.

Two miniature satellites that can precisely control their attitude and separation are flying in close formation as part of the Proba-3 mission. This creative setup showcases state-of-the-art formation-flying and rendezvous technologies while simulating a total solar eclipse. ISRO claims that Proba-3 is the first precision formation-flying mission in the world and for ESA. The satellites will remain in space in a fixed arrangement, much like a single, inflexible construction.

This is the second time an Indian rocket has launched an ESA satellite. The PSLV was used to launch the first, the Proba-1 mission, in 2001. Proba-1 was initially intended to be a one-year mission, but it has outperformed expectations and been in service for more than 20 years.