SUPER ISRO---HATS OFF AGAIN!

Mumbai: For Singapore which is celebrating the golden jubilee of its independence and also the 50th years of Indo-Singapore bilateral relations could there have been a more memorable way of marking both these events than by the successful launch of its six satellites on Wednesday evening---December 16 2015 ? No I do not think this so!

And would it be wrong to say that Singapore owes this to India and in particular Isro? No. This was the third time Isro was successfully launching satellites from Singapore and with Wednesday's mission the total number is eight. May this number go up and Indo-Singapore space further strengthen.

The main satellite, Teleos-1 weighing 400 kg with a five-year mission span having an one-metre resolution will be used for remote sensing purposes and according to unofficial sources its primary aim could be espionage. And what better proof than the fact that Singapore's defence department had a role in the development of this satellite?

Of the five, majority have been designed and developed by the Nanyang Technical University. I recall visiting this university in July 2005 and saw the first satellite launched by Isro--X-Sat-1 being developed. All the six sats on Wednesday were placed in a 550-km orbit. With this the total number of foreign sats placed in orbit by Isro is 57.

The all-Singapore mission on December 16 2015 was a super success and coming on the eve of the announcement of the R-Day awards, I think the government of India must recognise the achievement of our space scientists in a big way---certainly not by presenting a few of them with a Padma Shri!

The mission was precise in every sense of the word and went off as planned. What is important is that the sequence of separation of the six sats was well worked out so that they do not collide after they detach from the fourth stage of the core-alone Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The fourth stage had to be re oriented in order to achieve a flawless each time the satellites went into their respective orbits. Super Isro and hats off. May the years to come see more and more success.

The flight was significant in two more ways too. For the first time Isro has publicly announced that it was adhering to the space debris management system. And how did it do this? So far it was the practice of the space agency to highlight the final minute when the last spacecraft enters orbit.

But, this time Isro went a step further and declared publicly the time when the fourth stage of the PSLV will be put in the debris orbit after the last sat goes into orbit. Isro has always conformed to the space debris management system in all its previous missions. But, this it was made public for the first time to show that it was complying with global standards.

According to Isro though the mission officially concluded 21 minutes and 2.0 seconds following the separation of the last sat from the rocket, the fourth stage was put in the debris orbit 67 minutes after launch.

That is not all. It was significant in another way too. As an experiment, prior to it being placed in the debris orbit the fourth stage of the PSLV was restarted after it was shut down when the final sat went into orbit. It was again restarted for a few seconds and then shut off. An Isro official said that the aim of this experiment was to assess mission flexibity. ``This was done to check whether future orbital requirements can be catered to thru a single mission. For instance in today's flight all the satellites were put in a 550-km orbit. Suppose, we had to place another sat in a 700-km orbit, could this have been done?''

A great mission and surely a great way to end the year.

Congrats Isro.

We look forward to more successes in 2016 and the years ahead.