ISRO Launches Six Singaporean Satellites (thehindu.com)

vasanth writes: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched six Singapore satellites on Wednesday. The agency also tested the fourth stage of its PSLV rocket, a four stage/engine rocket powered by solid and liquid fuel, alternatively.

The test to restart the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket will help India in its future launches while attempting to launch multiple satellites in different orbits. Restarting a rocket engine soon after being shut off is a critical technology that must be mastered. Once a rocket engine is activated, a great deal of heat is generated. The trick is to cool it down in space and restart it after a short pause. India has now launched a total of 57 foreign satellites for 20 countries, and Wednesday's launch earned the country 26 million euros.

TeLEOS-1 is Singapore's first commercial earth observation satellite. It was launched into a low Earth orbit for "remote sensing" applications. The satellite was put into a 550-km-high, circular orbit inclined at 15 degrees to the equator. The next three satellite launches using the Indian PSLV rocket will be navigation satellites.

Comments

Press release?

[Brett Buck]

This appears to be a press release, nearly verbatim, from ISRO. I am happy for them, but is blipping out public relations information with no other content the new Slahsdot?

Re:Press release?

[m00sh]

This appears to be a press release, nearly verbatim, from ISRO. I am happy for them, but is blipping out public relations information with no other content the new Slahsdot?

This is not press release information.

India Today, the Hindu and the Indian Times are independent newspapers in India.

Malware on site

[GabeGhearing]

The article on indiatoday.intoday.in is redirecting me to Malware... It's a problem with their ad system.

• - Smartyads is serving an ad from srv23.therightways.com
• - which redirects to www.preparednewupdate.net
• - which redirects to www.search4newupdates.net
• - which redirects to ask24update.onlinechecknow.com
• - which serves a Mac-Chrome-update that is really a trojan that does a number of nasty things. It's properly signed so Apple's Gatekeeper won't have a problem installing it.

Re:Malware on site

[GabeGhearing]

Sadly, I can't figure out how to report this to anyone involved...

• - If IndiaToday sees this; properly block ads from being able to redirect your page... and maybe dump SmartyAds
• - If SmartyAds sees this, block whatever is going to srv23.therightways.com
• - If Apple sees this, block this Codesigning: ( TeamIdentifier=G39CCLH4QP, Executable=/Volumes/Installer/Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/oxytonesis, Identifier=com.greige.worldliness)
• - If Slashdot sees this... don't link to IndiaToday

Payload around 500 Kg

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Of the six satellites, TeLEOS-1 is the primary satellite weighing 400 kg whereas the other five satellites include two micro-satellites and three nano-satellites. TeLEOS-1 is the first Singapore commercial earth observation satellite. It will be launched into a low Earth orbit for "remote sensing" applications. Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO, has provided launch services in PSLV for 51 customer satellites from 20 countries so far.

It is an impressive feat no doubt. Also it tested its fourth stage liquid fuel rocket motor with start-stop capability. But as launch vehicles go it is definitely on the low end, with a 400Kg to 500Kg payload at 550 Km orbit. It is not a polar orbit or sun synchronous orbit. Looks like a plain vanilla orbit.

India is not really interested in a full fledged ICBM capability. Its enemies are local. It can probably deliver a 1000 Kg payload on Beijing or Shanghai. Or a 2000 Kg payload at Islamabad. That is all the capability it wants and it demonstrates. India is probably deliberately staying away from any capability to attack US mainland. It should not have to worry. It does not have oil. So it is in no danger of being invaded by USA ;-)