PSLV-C56: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the launch rehearsal of the PSLV-C56 mission, also known as the DS-SAR Mission, on Thursday, July 27, 2023. The rehearsal was successfully performed on Thursday morning, three days ahead of the ISRO's 90th space mission on Sunday, July 30. PSLV-C56 will launch seven Singaporean satellites into space at 6:30 am IST on Sunday, from First Launch Pad, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. 


People can watch the launch on the official website of ISRO, the official YouTube channel and Facebook account of the Indian space agency, or on DD National. The livestream will begin at 6:00 am IST on Sunday. 






The PSLV-C56 mission will be launched in collaboration with New Space India Limited (NSIL). This is the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle's (PSLV's) second mission this year.


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DS-SAR is a 360-kilogram satellite developed through a partnership between the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), an agency under the Government of Singapore, and ST Engineering, a Singaporean engineering and technology group. Six co-passenger satellites will be launched atop PSLV-C56. These are: Velox-AM, ARCADE, SCOOB-II, NuLIoN, Galassia-2, and ORB-12 Strider, ISRO said in a mission update. ARCADE stands for Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Explorer. 


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Velox-AM, ARCADE, and SCOOB-II have been developed by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; NuLIoN has been developed by NuSpace, an aerospace company in Singapore; Galassia-2 is developed by the National University of Singapore; and ORB-12 Strider is developed by Aliena, a space-tech company in Singapore. 


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PSLV-C56 will place DS-SAR into a near-equatorial orbit at an altitude of 535 kilometres, and an inclination of five degrees. DS-SAR consists of a synthetic aperture radar payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. The function of the synthetic aperture radar is to monitor the weather the entire day, and capture images at one-metre resolution. These satellite images will serve the purposes of different agencies within the Government of Singapore. Meanwhile, ST Engineering will use the DS-SAR satellite to provide geospatial services to commercial customers.


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ISRO successfully conducted the second and third hot tests of the Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System (SMPS) on July 26, at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. A week before, on July 19, the first hot test of the SMPS was performed. These tests are important because they will help determine the performance of the orbital module.