ISRO’s SSLV-D3 Mission Triumphs, Launching Key Satellites into Orbit

ISRO successfully launched and placed an Earth observation satellite in orbit. The EOS-08 along with the SR-O DEMOSAT entered in their orbits today. The mission marks the third and final developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-D3 (SSLV-D3). The rocket lifted off smoothly at 9:17 am from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, located approximately 135 km east of Chennai.

The SSLV-D3-EOS-08 mission led by ISRO, aimed to design and develop microsatellite and compatible payload instruments. The Earth Observation Satellite EOS-08 built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, carries three sophisticated payloads: the Electro-Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), the Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R), and the SiC UV Dosimeter.

The EOIR payload is capable of capturing images in the Mid-Wave IR (MIR) and Long-Wave IR (LWIR) bands, both day and night, for various applications including satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental assessment, fire and volcanic activity detection, and industrial disaster monitoring.

The GNSS-R payload demonstrates the potential of using GNSS-R-based remote sensing for ocean surface wind analysis, soil moisture measurement, cryosphere studies in the Himalayan region, flood detection, and inland waterbody monitoring.

Lastly the SiC UV Dosimeter is designed to monitor UV irradiance at the Crew Module’s viewport in the Gaganyaan Mission and acts as a high-dose alarm sensor for gamma radiation.