This will be SSLV’s third and final development flight from Sriharikota.“It completes the SSLV development project and enables operational missions by Indian industry and NSIL,” Isro stated.
If the liftoff is successful, the SSLV project will thereafter be launched based on operational and commercial needs of NSIL and the industry. SSLV is a mini-version of PSLV and can easily be assembled in a few days with less number of hands as compared to PSLV, which requires over a month to assemble and more staff.
Being a cost-effective launcher, SSLV will boost the numbers of Isro’s commercial launches and will help India increase its share in the global space launch services market, which was estimated at $14.9 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 14.6% from 2024 to 2030.
Primary objectives of the EOS-08 satellite mission include designing and developing a microsatellite, creating payload instruments compatible with the microsatellite bus and incorporating new technologies required for future operational satellites, the space agency said.
The spacecraft mission configuration is set to operate in a circular low earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 475 km with an inclination of 37.4°, and has a mission life of one year. The satellite has a mass of 175.5 kg and generates power of around 420 W. Built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, EOS-08 will carry three payloads — electro optical infrared payload (EOIR), global navigation satellite system-reflectometry payload (GNSS-R) and SiC UV Dosimeter.
The EOIR payload is designed to capture images in the mid-wave IR (MIR) and long-wave IR (LWIR) bands, both during the day and night, for applications such as satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activity observation, and industrial and power plant disaster monitoring.
EOS-08 marks a significant advancement in satellite mainframe systems such as an integrated avionics system, known as the communication, baseband, storage, and positioning (CBSP) package, which combines multiple functions into a single, efficient unit. This system is designed with cold redundant systems using commercial off-the-shelf components and evaluation boards, supporting up to 400 Gb of data storage.
Incorporating additional novel schemes, the EOS-08 mission improves satellite technology through X-band data transmission, utilising pulse shaping and frequency compensated modulation (FCM) for X-Band data transmitters. The satellite’s battery management system employs SSTCR-based charging and bus regulation, sequentially including or excluding strings at a frequency of 6 Hz.