PSLV-C3 was the third operational launch and overall sixth mission of the

PSLV The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite ...

program. This launch was also the forty-sixth launch by

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

since its first mission on 1 January 1962. The vehicle carried three satellites which were deployed in the Sun-synchronous

Low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

. The vehicle carried

Technology Experiment Satellite Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) is an Indian remote sensing and photo-reconnaissance satellite. Launch TES was launched by the PSLV-C3 rocket from the Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR) at Sriharikota in the south-east Indian coast a ...

(Indian experimental

earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

BIRD Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

(German

) and

PROBA PROBA is minisatellite technology demonstration mission in ESA's General Study Program with the objective to address issues of on-board operational autonomy of a generic platform. PROBA (Project for On-Board Autonomy), renamed PROBA-1, is a Belgia ...

(experimental satellite from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

). This was India's and ISRO's second commercial

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

. PSLV-C3 was launched at 10:23 a.m.

IST Ist or IST may refer to: Information Science and Technology * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Science and Technology * Graduate School / Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan * Graduate School ...

on 22 October 2001 from

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre (spaceport) operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota R ...

(then called "Sriharikota Range").

Mission highlights

The mission involved placing Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) and Bispectral and Infrared Remote Detection (BIRD) in a 568 km circular orbit. It would then place the PRoject for On Board Autonomy (PROBA) satellite in an 568 km x 638 km elliptical orbit. This demonstrated ISRO capability to launch multiple satellites in multiple orbits. It also earned ISRO $1 million for each satellite.

Mission parameters

* Mass: ** ''Total liftoff weight:'' ** ''Payload weight:'' * Overall height: * Propellant: ** ''First stage:''

Solid Solid is one of the State of matter#Four fundamental states, four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and Plasma (physics), plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount o ...

HTPB based (138.0 + 54 tonnes) ** ''Second stage:''

Liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, a ...

UDMH Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, НДМГ or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell ...

+ (40 tonnes) ** ''Third stage:''

HTPB based (7 tonnes) ** ''Fourth stage:''

MMH +

MON Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * An ...

(2.0 tonnes) * Engine: ** ''First stage:'' S139 ** ''Second stage:'' Vikas ** ''Third stage:'' ** ''Fourth stage:'' 2 x PS-4 *

Thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...

: ** ''First stage:'' 4,430 + 677 x 6 kN ** ''Second stage:'' 724 kN ** ''Third stage:'' 324 kN ** ''Fourth stage:'' 7.4 x 2 kN * Altitude: * Maximum velocity: (recorded at time of fourth stage ignition) * Duration: 1,658 seconds

Payload

PSLV-C3 carried and deployed total three satellites.

(TES) was the main payload and BIRD and PROBA were two auxiliary payloads that were mounted on PSLV-C3. In the flight sequence, TES was injected first, followed by BIRD and then PROBA.

Launch & planned flight profile

PSLV-C3 was launched at 10:23 a.m.

on 22 October 2001 from

(then called "Sriharikota Launching Range"). The mission was planned with pre-flight prediction of covering overall distance of . The total flight time was 1658 seconds as PROBA was to be launched into an elliptical orbit after TES and BIRD were launched into a circular orbit. The orbit raise was done using the yaw RCS thrusters in off-modulated mode. Following was the planned flight profile.

Fourth Stage Break-up event

The fourth stage of the PSLV had undergone a break-up event on 19 December 2001, likely caused by an explosion. After the explosion of PSLV-C3, ISRO carried out passivation of the upper stages of the PSLV, from the PSLV-C4 mission onwards. As per ISRO, this event generated 386 debris objects, of which 76 are still in orbit, as on 2021.

References