According to ISRO Chief S Somnath, a Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission is scheduled in January which will also be the 100th launch from the Sriharikota spaceport. ISRO on Monday successfully launched its Space Docking Experiment onboard a PSLV rocket at 10 pm from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh
After the successful launch of the PSLV-C60 mission that placed the Space Docking Experiment spacecraft A and B in a circular orbit on Monday, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that the national space research organization is gearing up to achieve a significant milestone in January 2025.
According to the ISRO chief, a Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission is scheduled in January which will also be the 100th launch from the Sriharikota spaceport.
"So, all of you have seen the majestic lift-off and the launch of the SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) rocket, and for us, this is the 99th launch of any vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre so, that is also a very important number. So, we are going for the 100th launch at the beginning of the next year", Somnath said while adding, “In 2025, we will have many missions to start with the GSLV launching the (navigation satellite) NVS-02 in the month of January."
In May 2023, ISRO placed a navigation satellite onboard the GSLV-F12/NVS-01 rocket. This GSLV rocket successfully deployed the NVS-01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2,232 kg into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
The NVS-01 was the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services.
ISRO on Monday successfully launched its Space Docking Experiment onboard a PSLV rocket at 10 pm from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The mission SpaDeX carried with two spacecraft as the primary payloads along with 24 secondary payloads.
This marked a major milestone for India as it set stone for ISRO setting up its own Space Station by 2035. This is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for in-space docking, satellite servicing and interplanetary missions.
India now joins an elite list featuring China, Russia and the US for in-space docking.
Upon the conclusion of the 25-hour countdown, PSLV-C60 in its 62nd flight lifted-off majestically, emanating thick orange colour fumes, from the first launch pad at this spaceport.
On Monday's PSLV-C60 mission, Somanath expressed hope that many more Space Docking Experiments would be taken up by the scientists in the coming days.
"It is really an important mission with (India's) space sector reforms and expansion of space activities. There will be many more SpaDeX varieties including complex missions of docking systems in the coming days," he said.
Initially, the lift-off was originally planned at 9.58 pm on Monday but ISRO authorities later rescheduled to 10 pm. Referring to the rescheduling, Somanath later said that scientists do a conjunction study to check whether a satellite going to an orbit comes very close to another satellite while travelling in the same orbit.
"If you find there is any close proximity (between satellites), then we have to move the current satellite a little bit. Either, we delay it (the launch) or make it early, so that this proximity condition does not occur," he said.
Scientists undertook time to fix the launch for the lift-off and decide on the best time which gives the maximum distance to be away from the other satellite in the orbit, he added.