PSLV XPoSat launched on January 1 doing very well: ISRO Chairman S Somanath

Hyderabad: ISRO chief S Somanath on Friday said the PSLV XPoSat launched on January 1 is doing “very well”. Somanath was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the convocation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) here. He was conferred Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) by the JNTU during the convocation. “First of January, we had a launch. PSLV XPoSat. The satellite is doing very well. All its instruments are now slowly switched on and working. We will get to know about the results soon,” he said.

Stating that 2024 is going to be an eventful year, Somanath said many launches are proposed.

“Next launch is a GSLV launch, INSAT- 3DS, climate and weather satellite to track our cyclones, to look at the weather, the rain, the drought and many other things. That satellite is going to be launched this month, possibly or may be beginning of February. Will have to see that it will be ready,” he said.

There are many launches for Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme as well, and 2024 is going to be ‘Gaganyaan year’. The other launches include commercial launches and the GSLV launch, he added. He also spoke about the crucial manoeuvre in the space agency’s maiden solar mission, the Aditya-L1, which would be performed on January 6. The manoeuvre puts the Aditya-L1 spacecraft into its final destination orbit. “Tomorrow, we have the Aditya-L1 insertion to Lagrange point… That will happen tomorrow. After that, the satellite will be there around, looking at the Sun and doing all the measurements. So, its journey of almost 1.5 million km is nearly getting completed,” Somanath said here. According to ISRO officials, the spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The L1 point is at about one per cent of the total distance between the Earth and the Sun.