ISRO prepares to launch weather satellite INSAT-3DR on August 28

Preparations for the launch of weather satellite INSAT-3DR with the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-MkII) next month are progressing at Sriharikota, officials said on Friday. “The weather satellite INSAT-3DR will be put into orbit by a GSLV rocket August end. Preparations for the launch are going on,” P. Kunhi Krishnan, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), told IANS. India’s rocket port is located in SDSC in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It is learnt that the launch is tentatively slated for August 28. A senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation told IANS that the satellite is yet to reach the rocket port. Normally the satellites reach the rocket port around a couple of weeks before the launch date. “With improved shock absorbing aspects during the transit, nowadays Indian satellites are first sent to filling of fuel and then to the clean room. We have avoided one testing stage of the satellite and thereby cutting down the launch time,” a senior ISRO official told IANS. “However foreign satellites that ISRO launches with its PSLV rockets will be tested in full without skipping even the first clean room,” he added. In September 2016, ISRO will launch ScatSat — a weather monitoring and forecasting satellite — with polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV).The Indian satellite will be a co-passenger to an Algerian satellite. Both the satellites will be put into different orbits. So the fourth stage/engine of the rocket will be switched off after ejecting ScatSat first. Then after a gap of around 30 minutes, the engine will be switched on and put the Algerian satellite into its intended orbit. IANS