PSLV-C23 Piggybacks French Satellite to space

Image: Representation purpose only

The much awaited launch of India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle was finally realized on June 30. The launch was scheduled at 09:52 IST (04:22 UTC) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The French Satellite SPOT-7 was the main payload of PSLV-C23 however there were five other smaller satellites; Canada’s CanX-4 and CanX-5, Germany’s AISSat-1, and Singapore’s two-satellite experiment VELOX-1.

PSLV successfully delivered its payload to a orbit around 655 kilometers in altitude at an inclination of 98.23 degrees. SPOT-7 weighs 714 kilograms and is powered by two solar arrays.

The last time India launched a foreign satellite successfully was in September 2012 when another PSLV carried SPOT-6 to orbit. Like SPOT-6 the new satellite SPOT-7 was also built by Airbus Defense and Space. SPOT-7 is the seventh in the series of observational satellites from France’s Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre, programme. There are two imaging systems on board the satellite that allows the satellite to take panchromatic as well as multispectral images over a swath of 60 kilometers.

This was the tenth flight for PSLV, however, this flight made use of the Core Alone variant which is similar to the standard version of PSLV, but it doesn’t have the six PS0M boosters which is attached to the standard PSLV during the first stage of the flight.