ANS: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the PSLV-C55 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C55) mission carrying two Singaporean satellites— TeLEOS-2 and Lumelite-4, for Earth observation from Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday afternoon.
PSLV-C55 is a dedicated commercial PSLV mission of New Space India Limited (NSIL), which is the commercial arm of ISRO, for an international satellite customer.
“The vehicle placed Singapore’s TeLEOS-2 as the primary satellite and Lumelite-4 as a co-passenger satellite precisely into their intended 586 km circular orbit,” ISRO tweeted.
TeLEOS-2 is the primary satellite and Lumelite-4 is the co-passenger satellite, weighing about 741 kg and 16 kg, respectively.
“TeLEOS-2 satellite is developed under a partnership between DSTA and ST Engineering. TeLEOS-2 will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of the Government of Singapore and will provide all-weather day and night coverage,” said in a statement issued by ISRO.
ISRO chief S Somanath commended the scientists in a speech delivered after the successful launch of the PSLV-C55. He also noted that this flight was more evidence of the launch vehicle’s dependability for commercial missions of this type.
Notably, this is the 57th mission carried out by PSLV, and the 16th mission carried out by the PSLV Core Alone configuration (PSLV-CA) type.