Drishtikone
Remember the launch of PSLV with four satellites and the re-entry vehicle? Well the re-entry thing is back! So, that is a good omen and step towards putting a man in space in 2010!
After 11 days in space, Indian Space Research Organisation’s recoverable satellite re-entered the earth and splashed down in the Bay of Bengal this morning as planned.
As part of the mission, ISRO’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) had put Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) satellite into space along with three others on January 10, space agency sources said.
The capsule splashed down around 9.30 am, ISRO sources said, adding that efforts were being made to recover it. “The capsule has splashed down. The Coast Guard has located the area”.
The 550-kg SRE, that would help ISRO hone its skills in re-entry, recoverable and re-usable technologies, had two payloads to conduct experiments in micro-gravity.
The PSLV-C7 had injected India’s Cartosat-2, apart from SRE satellite, and two others from overseas — LAPAN-TUBSAT, a joint venture of Indonesia and the Technical University of Berlin, and the Pehuensat-1 of Argentina.
The 550-kg Space-Capsule Recovery Experiment was intended for demonstrating the capability to recover an orbiting space capsule, as also the associated technologies.
“SRE is intended to test reusable thermal protection system, navigation, guidance and control, hypersonic aero-dynamics, management of communication blackout, deceleration and floatation system and recovery experiments”, ISRO officials here said.
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