POLAR SATELLITE

LAUNCH VEHICLE (PSLV)

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The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable launch system developed and operated
by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its
Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the
advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia. PSLV can also launch small size
satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

PSLV is capable of launching 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit (SSPO) and
1050 kg satellite in geo-synchronous transfer orbit.

As of 2014 the PSLV has launched 65 satellites / spacecrafts (30 Indian and 35 Foreign Satellites)
into a variety of orbits. Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include Indias Chandrayaan-1
lunar probe and the Mars Orbiter Mission. It is the most successful launch vehicle in ISRO, till date,
with 25 consecutively successful flights out of 26 launches.

PSLV was designed and developed in the early 1990s at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC),
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The inertial systems are developed by ISRO Inertial Systems Unit
(IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram. The liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of
PSLV as well as the reaction control systems are developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre
(LPSC) at Mahendragiri (Tirunelveli),Tamil Nadu.

The PSLV had its first launch on 20 September 1993. ISRO met complete success with the third
developmental launch in 1996. After a partially unsuccessful launch in 1997, further successful
launches followed in 1999 and 2001.

PSLV is a four-stage rocket that uses a combination of liquid fueled and solid fueled rocket stages.
The vehicle can fly in three different configurations to adjust for mission requirements.

The first stage is one of the largest solid-fuel rocket boosters in the world and carries 138 tonnes of
Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) bound propellant with a diameter of 2.8 m. The motor
case is made of maraging steel. The booster develops a maximum thrust of about 4,430 kN. Six
strap-on motors, four of which are ignited on the ground, augment the first stage thrust. Each of
these solid propellant strap-on motors carries nine tonnes of HTPB propellant and produces 677 kN
thrust. Pitch and yaw control of the PSLV during the thrust phase of the solid motor is achieved by
injection of an aqueous solution of strontium perchlorate in the nozzle to constitute Secondary
Injection Thrust Vector Control System (SITVC).

The second stage employs the Vikas engine and carries 41.5 tonnes (40 tonnes till C-5 mission) of
liquid propellant Unsymmetrical Di-Methyl Hydrazine (UDMH) as fuel and Nitrogen tetroxide

(N2O4) as oxidizer. It generates a maximum thrust of 800 kN (724 till C-5 mission). Pitch & yaw
control is obtained by hydraulically gimbaled engine (4) and two hot gas reaction control for roll.

The third stage uses 7 tonnes of HTPB-based solid propellant and produces a maximum thrust of
324 kN. It has a Kevlar-polyamide fiber case and a submerged nozzle equipped with a flex-bearingseal gimbaled nozzle (2) thrust-vector engine for pitch & yaw control. For roll control it uses the
RCS (Reaction Control System) of fourth stage.

The fourth and the terminal stage of PSLV has a twin engine configuration using liquid propellant.
With a propellant loading of 2 tonnes (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine as fuel + Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen
as oxidiser), each of these engines generates a maximum thrust of 7.4 kN. Engine is gimbaled (3)
for pitch, yaw & roll control and for control during the coast phase uses on-off RCS. PSLV-C4 used a
new lightweight carbon composite payload adapter to enable a greater GTO payload capability