Things to know about ISRO's workhorse PSLV

Image credit: ISRO

New Delhi: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.

After its first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV emerged as the reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India with 39 consecutively successful missions by June 2017.

During 1994-2017 period, the vehicle has launched 48 Indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad.

Besides, the vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively

PSLV is all geared up today to launch the IRNSS-1H satellite.

Here are some interesting facts about ISRO's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, commonly known by its abbreviation PSLV:

• The PSLV is an expendable launch system developed and operated by the ISRO.
• PSLV made its first flight on September 20, 1993, but the mission failed early into flight.
• It has been in service for over 20 years and has launched over 40 satellites for 19 countries.
• Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India's first interplanetary mission Mangalyaan (Mars orbiter) and India's first space observatory, Astrosat.
• In the year 2015 alone, ISRO successfully launched 17 foreign satellites belonging to Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• PSLV can take up to 1,750 kg of payload to Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits of 600 km altitude.
• Due to its unmatched reliability, PSLV has also been used to launch various satellites into Geosynchronous and Geostationary orbits, like satellites from the IRNSS constellation.
• In order to cater to different mission requirements, ISRO has envisaged a number of variants of PSLV. Currently, there are three operational versions of the PSLV - the standard (PSLV-G), the core-alone (PSLV-CA) without the six strap-on booster motors, and the (PSLV-XL) version, which carries more solid fuel in its strap-on motors than the standard version.