The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday successfully launched the Earth Observation Satellite-8 (EOS-08) aboard the third and final development flight of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-03 (SSLV-D3) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Today's mission marks the culmination of the SSLV development phase, a significant milestone in ISRO's efforts to enhance its satellite launch capabilities


The SSLV-D3 mission is a significant step forward in ISRO's efforts to provide low-cost access to space and further paves the way for future operational missions by Indian industry and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). 


The mission was initially scheduled for August 15 but was postponed by a day. As per ISRO, the launch window opened at 09:17 am, and approximately 17 minutes after liftoff, the Earth observation and SR-O DEMOSAT satellites, were successfully placed into a 475 km circular orbit.






Later, speaking on the launch, ISRO chief S Somanath said, "It was a very successful mission...As on today, with the data available, the mission is almost a 100% success with the satellite being placed in the correct orbit and all separation process happening nominally. We are very happy about the completion of the development programme of SSLV with this third development flight...Now, beyond this, the program is to manufacture and launch this rocket for commercial purposes."


With today's mission, ISRO completed the developmental flight of the smallest rocket which can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg and can place them into Low Earth Orbit (of up to 500 km above Earth).


About EOS-08


Built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, EOS-08 carries three payloads--Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R) and SiC UV Dosimeter.


The EOIR payload is designed to capture images in the Mid-Wave IR (MIR) and Long-Wave IR (LWIR) bands, both during the day and night, for applications such as satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activity observation and industrial and power plant disaster monitoring.  


The GNSS-R payload demonstrates the capability of using GNSS-R-based remote sensing for applications such as ocean surface wind analysis, soil moisture assessment, cryosphere studies over the Himalayan region, flood detection, and inland waterbody detection.  


The SiC UV Dosimeter monitors UV irradiance at the viewport of the Crew Module in the Gaganyaan Mission and serves as a high-dose alarm sensor for gamma radiation.