SSLV News, Discussions, Updates and Reports

[Indx TechStyle]

"The first flight (of SSLV) is targeted for this year-end," he said.

Gaganyaan, India's human space mission, will use 'green propulsion': ISRO

"Green propulsion is essential. We are going to fly Gaganyaan with green propulsion. It is an essential requirement," said ISRO chief K Sivan

www.hindustantimes.com

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Explained: ISRO’s SSLV, a small satellite launcher with big prospects ahead
ISRO's indigenous new launch rockets, called the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), is likely to have its much-delayed, maiden development flight this April. Here's what we know about it

ISRO chairman Dr S Somanath in a meeting with the Union minister of state for space Jitendra Singh on Tuesday. (Photo: PIB)

The new chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation Dr S Somanath indicated at a meeting with the minister of state for space Jitendra Singh Tuesday that ISRO’s indigenous new launch rockets, called the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), will have its much-delayed, maiden development flight this April.

The ISRO chairman has mentioned the launch of an “SSLV-D1 Micro SAT in April 2022” the Press Information Bureau said in an official statement on the meeting between the new ISRO chairman and the Space Minister on Tuesday.

The SSLV is intended to cater to a market for the launch of small satellites into low earth orbits which has emerged in recent years on account of the need for developing countries, private corporations, and universities for small satellites.

The launch of small satellites has until now been dependent on ‘piggy-back’ rides with big satellite launches on ISRO’s work-horse – the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which has had over 50 successful launches so far. The launch of small satellites as a consequence has been dependent on the finalising of launch contracts for the larger satellites by ISRO.

The launch of small satellites has until now been dependent on ‘piggy-back’ rides with big satellite launches on ISRO’s work-horse – the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. (Photo: PTI)

Somanath himself is credited with the design and development of the SSLV during his time as director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram since 2018. The launch of the maiden flight of the SSLV was scheduled for July 2019 but has been delayed due to setbacks from the Covid 19 crisis and other issues.

The SSLV can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg to a low earth orbit while the tried and tested PSLV can launch satellites weighing in the range of 1000 kg.

“The SSLV is the smallest vehicle at 110-ton mass at ISRO. It will take only 72 hours to integrate, unlike the 70 days taken now for a launch vehicle. Only six people will be required to do the job, instead of 60 people. The entire job will be done in a very short time and the cost will be only around Rs 30 crore. It will be an on-demand vehicle,” former ISRO chairman K Sivan had stated in 2019 at the ISRO headquarters during an annual press conference.

The former chairman Sivan said in an industry meeting that year that about 15 to 20 SSLVs would be required every year to meet the national demand alone.

The SSLV received a commercial booking in 2019 itself from the US space launch services intermediary Spaceflight Inc. Spaceflight announced on August 8, 2019, that it has clinched a deal with an ISRO commercial arm for using the second developmental flight of the SSLV rocket to launch a spacecraft for an “undisclosed US-based satellite constellation” customer.

“SSLV is perfectly suited for launching multiple microsatellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs. We are excited to add SSLV to our launch portfolio and manage many launches together — first to LEO (low earth orbit) mid-inclinations this year and SSO missions starting in the fall of 2020,” Spaceflight CEO and president Curt Blake said in 2019.

The development and manufacture of the SSLV are expected to create greater synergy between the space sector and private Indian industries – a key aim of the space ministry. Indian industry has a consortium for the production of PSLV and should come together to produce the SSLV as well once it is tested, ISRO has stated in the past.

One of the aims of the newly-created ISRO commercial arm, New Space India Limited (NSIL), is to use research and development carried out by ISRO over the years for commercial purposes through Indian industry partners.

“Manufacturing and production of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) through technology transfer,” is one of the mandates of the new firm.

There are more than 500 industries contributing to ISRO programs at present, and more than half of the project budget outlay for space programs flows to these industries.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

Explained: ISRO’s SSLV, a small satellite launcher with big prospects ahead
ISRO's indigenous new launch rockets, called the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), is likely to have its much-delayed, maiden development flight this April. Here's what we know about it

ISRO chairman Dr S Somanath in a meeting with the Union minister of state for space Jitendra Singh on Tuesday. (Photo: PIB)

The launch of small satellites has until now been dependent on ‘piggy-back’ rides with big satellite launches on ISRO’s work-horse – the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. (Photo: PTI)

With SSLV, we shall rule the small satellite market. Even reusable rockets of Elon musk will not be able to match it.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

With SSLV, we shall rule the small satellite market. Even reusable rockets of Elon musk will not be able to match it.

SSLV's advantage would be higher launch frequency and hence more frequent launch slots for clients. We are surviving just because market is large and ESA, SpaceX, NASA and CNSA aren't able to satisfy global demand together. SpaceX won't have any problem in introducing a re-usable space rocket of SSLV's size.
US has already Minotaur-I, Russia has Start-I and China Kuizhaou. They just reserve their rockets for emergency military launches while we are trying to use same thing for civilian market. So, it isn't a technological challenge for any of space powers.

 

[Varoon2]

SSLV's advantage would be higher launch frequency and hence more frequent launch slots for clients. We are
US has already Minotaur-I, Russia has Start-I and China Kuizhaou. They just reserve their rockets for emergency military launches while we are trying to use same thing for civilian market. So, it isn't a technological challenge for any of space powers.
[/QUOTE,
And of course, the significantly lower cost of those launches. They should be getting lots of orders from different countries. A layman could ask, if an SSLV can be made in 72 hours( hope I'm not misunderstanding) , then the launch frequency would only depend on the ready availability of the materials and components, and the number of satellites on deck for launching. This is theoretically very high! Could we be seeing at least 2 launches a month?

 

[Varoon2]

SSLV's advantage would be higher launch frequency and hence more frequent launch slots for clients.
US has already Minotaur-I, Russia has Start-I and China Kuizhaou. They just reserve their rockets for emergency military launches while we are trying to use same thing for civilian market. So, it isn't a technological challenge for any of space powers.

And of course, significantly lower costs! There should be satellites from many different countries, developed and developing. A layman could ask, if an SSLV can be made in 72 hours( hope I'm not misunderstanding) then you could be seeing a high frequency of launches, depending only on availability of materials and components, and the number of satellites on contract. Could there be at least 2 launches a month?

 

[Indx TechStyle]

And of course, significantly lower costs! There should be satellites from many different countries, developed and developing. A layman could ask, if an SSLV can be made in 72 hours( hope I'm not misunderstanding) then you could be seeing a high frequency of launches, depending only on availability of materials and components, and the number of satellites on contract. Could there be at least 2 launches a month?

50-60 launches an year was stated by K. Sivan around 2019. Now, depends upon demand.

 

[asaffronladoftherisingsun]

50-60 launches an year was stated by K. Sivan around 2019. Now, depends upon demand.

Has Gslv Mk3 tested with 10 ton payload yet?

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Has Gslv Mk3 tested with 10 ton payload yet?

No

 

[no smoking]

SSLV's advantage would be higher launch frequency and hence more frequent launch slots for clients. We are surviving just because market is large and ESA, SpaceX, NASA and CNSA aren't able to satisfy global demand together. SpaceX won't have any problem in introducing a re-usable space rocket of SSLV's size.
US has already Minotaur-I, Russia has Start-I and China Kuizhaou. They just reserve their rockets for emergency military launches while we are trying to use same thing for civilian market. So, it isn't a technological challenge for any of space powers.

Another issue is the weight of satellite. For a long period of time, the weight of India satellite mismatched India's rocket payload. For example, India's PSLV has 2.5 ton payload, but the majority of India's satellites are around 1 ton, or less than 2 tones. As the result, each launch, Indian rocket has a lot of spare payload for foreign small satellite.

On the other hand, other countries rocket generally has a clear target of payload: their next generation satellite's weight. So there is no much spare payload left.

In the case of China, it is a different story, US forbid any satellite with US component to use Chinese rocket.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

Has Gslv Mk3 tested with 10 ton payload yet?

10 tons in which orbit? For LEO, where is the 10 tons payload to launched?

 

[HariPrasad-1]

SSLV's advantage would be higher launch frequency and hence more frequent launch slots for clients. We are surviving just because market is large and ESA, SpaceX, NASA and CNSA aren't able to satisfy global demand together. SpaceX won't have any problem in introducing a re-usable space rocket of SSLV's size.
US has already Minotaur-I, Russia has Start-I and China Kuizhaou. They just reserve their rockets for emergency military launches while we are trying to use same thing for civilian market. So, it isn't a technological challenge for any of space powers.

Our launches are cost effective because of cheap research cost and cheap manpower. If we are able to reduce other costs, only labor cost of space X etc will exceed our total cost and they will not be able to compete us in small satelite launch cost. If we are able to reuse first stage, we shall be absolute winner for any foreseeable future in the segment.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Another issue is the weight of satellite. For a long period of time, the weight of India satellite mismatched India's rocket payload. For example, India's PSLV has 2.5 ton payload, but the majority of India's satellites are around 1 ton, or less than 2 tones. As the result, each launch, Indian rocket has a lot of spare payload for foreign small satellite.

On the other hand, other countries rocket generally has a clear target of payload: their next generation satellite's weight. So there is no much spare payload left.

No, all of India's rocekts were developed on purpose of weights of future spacecrafts. Whether they were repurposed later is a different case since load may not always remain same. SLV-3 for trial, ASLV for SROSS, PSLV for INS & later modified for IRNSS, GSLV Mark II for GSATs & GSLV Mark III for human spaceflight.

PSLV was the first medium-lift launch vehicle to be built outside US, Russia, Europe, China & Japan which essentially was meant to just push India into the league. The reason of practicing, stocking & continual with first successful rocket ever built by Indian aerospace industry.
It couldn't launch India's heavy communication satellites so GSLV Mark II & Mark III were developed but they took two decades to enter service.
Even payload of original PSLV didn't exceed 600kg. A lot of configurations of PSLV were developed later even to deliver GTO satellites and IRS series, INS series, ResourceSat-series, NVS series, Chandrayaan-1 ans Mangalyaan-1. Obviously the rocket was repurposed later for commercial launches since it is only rocket that can be launched frequently by India.

10 tons in which orbit? For LEO, where is the 10 tons payload to launched?

Nowhere. Max. is Gaganyaan of ~8 tonnes in 400 kms orbit.

 

[Varoon2]

There hasn't been much information about the technical issues in SSLV-D1. Can we presume that the problem with the first stage is resolved, which is why there is confidence about an April launch. Or is the April launch date, merely an expectation from ISRO, that the problem will be solved? The latter is different!

 

[Indx TechStyle]

There hasn't been much information about the technical issues in SSLV-D1. Can we presume that the problem with the first stage is resolved, which is why there is confidence about an April launch. Or is the April launch date, merely an expectation from ISRO, that the problem will be solved? The latter is different!

If SSLV is going to be launched in April, issue must have been resolved.

 

[mokoman]

cost per launch = 30 crore , = 4 million $ for 500 kg payload ,
cost = 8,000 / kg

falcon 9 cost is 2,700 / kg , but its total capacity is 22 tons.

i know falcon9 is larger rocket but sucks we are nowhere near competitive to spacex

 

[Vamsi]

cost per launch = 30 crore , = 4 million $ for 500 kg payload ,
cost = 8,000 / kg

falcon 9 cost is 2,700 / kg , but its total capacity is 22 tons.

i know falcon9 is larger rocket but sucks we are nowhere near competitive to spacex

Falcon 9 doesn't carry 22 tons in every mission. So , cost per Kg changes for every mission. But for SSLV, it will remain same almost for every mission.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Falcon 9 doesn't carry 22 tons in every mission. So , cost per Kg changes for every mission. But for SSLV, it will remain same almost for every mission.

Not exactly. Fuel consumption makes up a big factor of cost and in case of re-usable rockets, this factor even becomes bigger since fuel makes up the larger portion of weight.

And even SSLV won't always carry full-payload everytime.

 

[Vamsi]

Not exactly. Fuel consumption makes up a big factor of cost and in case of re-usable rockets, this factor even becomes bigger since fuel makes up the larger portion of weight.

And even SSLV won't always carry full-payload everytime.

Even if SSLV doesn't carry full payload every time, the change in cost per Kg will still be less than that of Falcon 9..

22T payload capacity for F9 is only achieved when its used in Expendable mode. How on earth does a F9 like rocket will achieve $2700 per Kg cost when launched in expendable configuration ?

 

[mokoman]

Elon is claiming starship with total 150 Ton payload to LEO will cost just 10$ / kg .

i cant imagine how its true .

regardless i still amazed how ahead US is of everyone else.

saw this cost comparison chart online

The Cost of Space Flight Before and After SpaceX

How much does a space flight cost? Here’s a look at the cost per kilogram for space launches across the globe since 1960.

www.visualcapitalist.com