On the second day, the 71-hour countdown for the PSLV-C19/RISAT-1 mission is “progressing satisfactorily” at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, near here.
The fully integrated Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C19 is on the first launch pad with mandatory checks being carried out on the rocket ahead of its launch scheduled at 5.47 a.m. on Thursday. The high end launch vehicle will ferry Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1), a wholly Indian-built microwave remote sensing satellite equipped with cloud penetration and 24-hour imaging capabilities.
“Countdown is going ahead smoothly. There is no problem. We hope the launch will take place at the scheduled hour,” said a senior official at SHAR.
The filling of liquid propellant in Stages 2 and 4 continued as also the charging of batteries and pressurisation of the propellant tanks. The solid propellant, hydroxyl-terminated poly butadiene (HTPB), was filled in Stages 1 and 3.
The lift-off mass of the PSLV C19 comes to 312 tonnes with its height reaching 44.5 meters. In the high end XL (extra large) version, it is the 3rd flight for the PSLV with two earlier flights carrying Chandrayaan-1 and GSAT-12 Communications Satellite.
The RISAT-1 uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in C-band (5.35 GHz) enabling imaging of earth's surface features under all weather conditions.
