 PSLVVehicle Configurations
Vehicle Components
India's Space Research Organization (ISRO) introduced the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV) series in 1993. PSLV, designed to lift 1.5 metric ton satellites to sun synchronous
polar orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota, India, is a conglomerate
of Indian and European components.
PSLV performance was progressively improved during the
1990s. The operational "C" version, first flown in 1997, stands 44.4 meters tall
and weighs 295 metric tons at liftoff. It consists of four stages that use solid and
liquid propellants alternately.
The first stage uses a 2.8 meter diameter, 20 meter long,
472 ton thrust solid motor that burns 138 tons of propellant for 107 seconds. The first
stage is augmented by six solid strap-on boosters that produce 67.5 tons of thrust each
for 45 seconds. Four of the strap-on boosters ignite at liftoff. The two air-start
strap-ons ignite 25 seconds after liftoff. The strap-on boosters are jettisonned after
burn-out. More powerful "XL" boosters carrying 12 tonnes of propellant and
producing up to 73.4 tonnes of thrust debuted in 2008.
 PSLV's 12.5 x 2.8 m PS-2 (L40) second stage is powered
by a 73.9 ton-thrust Viking 4 engine that burns unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH)
fuel and nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer for 162 seconds. Viking 4, called
"Vikas" by ISRO, was originally built by Europe's SEP for the Ariane 1 launch
vehicle.
The third stage is another 2.8 meter diameter solid motor.
It burns 7.6 tons of propellant for 109 seconds, producing 33.5 tons of thrust.
The fourth and final stage is a twin-engine liquid
propulsion system that is housed within the payload fairing below the satellite. It burns
2.5 tons of mono-methyl hydrazine (MMH) fuel and nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer. The
1.43 ton thrust stage can burn for up to 420 seconds.
The vehicle is controlled by a strap-down inertial
navigation/guidance system housed in a vehicle equipment bay that is mounted on top of the
fourth stage. An 8.3 meter tall, 3.2 meter diameter payload fairing protects the payload
during ascent through the atmosphere.
The first PSLV launch, in 1993, failed due to a software
guidance error. The second flight one year later successfully boosted India's IRS-P2 Earth
resource monitoring satellite into an 820 km x 98.7 degree sun synchronous orbit. Eight
PSLV launches occurred during the first 10 years of its use, with six successes. In 2002,
PSLV-C4 performed the first PSLV geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) mission.
The original PSLV/GSLV launch complex was replaced in 2005
with a new, mobile launch facility. PSLV-C6 was the first rocket to use the pad. Whereas
the original pad featured a fixed launch stand and a 75 meter tall mobile service tower,
the new "second launch pad" uses rail-mobile launch stands that allow vehicles
to be stacked in a vertical integration building located some distance from the launch pad
itself.
The January 10, 2007 PSLV-C7 mission included the first use
of a PSLV dual launch adapter, which deployed both Cartosat 2 and the SRE 1 demonstration
recovery capsule and carried a small microsatellite.
The PSLV-CA (Core Alone) model premiered on April 23, 2007.
The CA model did not include the six strap-on boosters used by the PSLV-C variant.
Two small roll control modules and two first stage motor control injection tanks
were still attached to the side of the first stage. About 400 kg of propellant was
offloaded from the fourth stage compared to PSLV-C.
Chandrayaan 1, India's first lunar orbiter, was launched by
the first PSLV-XL variant on October 22, 2008. PSLV-XL, boosted by more powerful,
stretched strap-on boosters, weighed 22 tonnes more at liftoff than PSLV-C.
Vehicle Configurations
| |
LEO
Payload
(metric tons)
200 km x 49.5 deg
[800 km x 98 deg] |
GTO
Payload
(metric
tons) |
Configuration |
LIftoff
Height
(meters) |
Liftoff
Mass
(metric tons) |
| PSLV-C |
3.7 t
[1.6 t] |
1.1 t |
4 stage PSLV-C core with 6xS-9 strap-on boosters |
44.4 m |
295 t |
| PSLV-CA |
[1.1 t] |
|
4 stage PSLV-C core |
44.4 m |
230 t |
| PSLV-XL |
[1.8 t] |
1.3 t |
4 Stage PSLV-C core with 6xS-12 strap-on boosters |
44.4 m |
316 t |
Vehicle Components
| |
Stage 1 Core
PS1
S138 |
Stage 1
Strap-On
Boosters
S9
(Each of 6)
(2 Air-Start) |
Stage 1
Strap-On
Boosters
S12 (PSOM-XL)
(Each of 6)
(2 Air-Start) |
Stage 2
PS2
L40 |
Stage 3
PS3
S7 |
Stage 4
PS4
L2 |
Payload
Fairing |
| Diameter (m) |
2.8 m |
1.0 m |
1.0 m |
2.8 m |
2.0 m |
2.8 m |
3.2 m |
| Length (m) |
20.3 m |
10.0 m |
12.4 m |
12.5 m |
3.6 m |
2.9 m |
8.3 m |
Propellant Mass
(metric tons) |
138 t |
8.92 t |
12.0 t |
40.6 t
41.5 t (after C5) |
7.6 t |
2.5 t
2.1 t (PSLV-CA) |
|
Total Mass
(metric tons) |
168 t |
10.93 t |
|
46.0 t
46.9 t (after C5) |
8.3 t |
2.92 t
2.52 t (PSLV-CA) |
1.1 t |
| Engine |
S138 |
S9 |
S12 |
Viking 4 |
S7 |
L2 |
|
| Engine Mfgr |
ISRO |
ISRO |
ISRO |
SEP |
ISRO |
ISRO |
|
| Fuel |
HTPB |
HTPB |
HTPB |
UDMH |
HTPB |
MMH |
|
| Oxidizer |
|
|
|
N2O4 |
|
N2O4 |
|
Thrust
(SL metric tons) |
447.22 t |
46.39 t (ea) |
|
|
|
|
|
Thrust
(Vac metric tons) |
500.68 t |
51.25 t (ea) |
73.42 t (ea) |
73.93 t
81.58 t (after C5) |
33.52 t |
1.43 t |
|
| ISP (SL sec) |
237 s |
229 s |
|
|
|
|
|
| ISP (Vac sec) |
269 s |
253 s |
|
296 s |
294 s |
308 s |
|
| Burn Time (sec) |
98 s |
45 s |
49 s |
162 s
147 s (after C5) |
109 s |
516.6 s |
|
| No. Engines |
1 |
1 Each |
1 Each |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
Typical PSLV-C Launch Timeline
| Time |
Event |
Altitude |
Velocity |
| T+0 s |
S125 Core Stage Ignites |
0 km |
0 |
| T+1.2 s |
4 Ground Lit Boosters Ignite - Liftoff |
0 km |
|
| T+25 s |
2 Airlit Boosters Ignite |
2.4 km |
|
| T+45 s |
4 Ground Lit Boosters Burnout |
km |
|
| T+68 s |
4 Ground Lit Boosters Separate |
23.7 km |
|
| T+90 s |
2 Air Lit Boosters Burnout/Separate |
42.6 km |
|
| T+113 s |
First Stage Burnout/Second Stage Ignition |
68.5 km |
|
| T +157 s |
Payload Fairing Jettison |
117 km |
|
| T + 266 s |
Second Stage Shutdown/Thrid Stage Ignition |
248 km |
|
| T + 389 s |
Third Stage Shutdown/Sep |
425 km |
|
| Varies |
Fourth Stage Burn After Coast |
800 km typical
but varies |
7.5 km/s LEO
10 km/s GTO |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
References
"www.isro.org"
SLV/ASLV/PSLV Record
SLV-3 E1 August 10, 1979 Partially successful. A jammed valve in the second stage control
system resulted in the leak of oxidizer.
SLV-3 E2 July 18, 1980 Successful
SLV-3 D1 May 31, 1981 Successful
SLV-3 D2 April 17, 1983 Successful
ASLV-D1 March 24, 1987 Unsuccessful due to non-ignition of first stage
ASLV-D2 July 13, 1988 Unsuccessful . The flight was normal only up to 46 seconds after
lift off
ASLV-D3 May 20, 1992 Successful
ASLV-D4 May 4, 1994 Successful
PSLV-D1 September 20, 1993 Unsuccessful due to software error in on board guidance and
control processor
PSLV-D2 October 15, 1994 Successful
PSLV-D3 March 21, 1996 Successful
PSLV-C1 September 29, 1997 IRS-1D 4th stg apogee failure due to leak, low orbit
(306x822kmx98.5deg) (LEO)
PSLV-C2 May 26, 1999 IRS-P4/Kitsat-3/Tubsat-C LEO/S Successful
PSLV-C3 Oct 22, 2001 TES,BIRD,PROBA LEO/S Successful
PSLV-C4 Sept 12, 2002 Metsat 1 GTO Successful
PSLV-C5 Oct 17, 2003 IRS-P6 LEO/S Successful
PSLV-C6 May 5, 2005 Cartosat 1/Hamsat LEO/S Successful
PSLV-C7, January 10, 2007, PSLV-C, Cartosat-2/SRE-1/Lapan-Tubsat/Pehuensat-1, to LEO/S,
Successful
PSLV-C8, April 23, 2007, PSLV-CA, Agile/AAM to LEOx2.5 deg, Successful
PSLV-C10, January 21, 2008, PSLV-CA, Tecsar (Israeli radarsat) LEOx41deg, Successful
PSLV--C9 April 28, 2008, PSLV-CA, Cartosat-2A, IMS-1, 8 Nanosats, LEO/S, Successful
PSLV-C11 October 22, 2008, 1st PSLV-XL, Chandrayaan-1 to EEO Succesful
Last Update: October 25, 2008 |