Hyderabad-based full-stack Space-Engineering solutions provider Dhruva Space has announced its upcoming Missions onboard Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) PSLV-C55 launch. The mission is scheduled for 02:19 pm IST on 22 April 2023 and will take off from First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Dhruva Space’s third mission to Space in less than a year marks the company’s intention to fly their own or their customer payloads on every PSLV mission of ISRO. The C55 mission of PSLV will be flying two variants of Dhruva Space’s Satellite Orbital Deployers, and one variant of their upcoming Radio Frequency modules.
3U Satellite Orbital Deployer (DSOD-3U) & 6U Satellite Orbital Deployer (DSOD-6U)
Interfacing of the Spacecraft with the launch vehicle is a critical component to the deployment of satellites. Dhruva Space has indigenously-developed satellite deployment systems that are compatible with Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV); these are in form factors 1U, 3U, 6U, 12U and 16U.
On 30 June 2022 in their DSOD-1U Mission, Dhruva Space successfully space-qualified its 1U Satellite Orbital Deployer onboard ISRO’s PSLV-C53 mission. Following this, onboard ISRO’s PSLV-C54 on 26 November 2022, Dhruva Space designed and successfully deployed into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) two amateur communication satellites, Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2.
Now onboard ISRO’s PSLV-C55, Dhruva Space will be Space-qualifying their 3U and 6U Satellite Orbital Deployers; these deployers are able to accommodate more or larger CubeSats.
While the DSOD-3U is an extension of the DSOD-1U, the DSOD-6U will be tested for delayed deployment of satellites in LEO or higher orbits. This will essentially let customers leverage the Dhruva Space deployers for storing satellites in orbit or utilisation of the same for Lunar missions.
The company will also be testing its Dhruva Space Orbital Link (DSOL). The Orbital Link is designed and being tested to support satellite-based data relay applications.
