Launch News Indian PSLV launch with IRNSS-1D, March 28, 2015

[Cosmic Penguin]

Launches galore! Just when you might think there might be too many spacecraft heading into space these days, here's a 6th launch for these 3 days to enjoy with.

And like 2 of the last 5, this one is also launching a navigation satellite - showing how large global navigation satellite systems projects are and how multiple new players are trying to join in the field where GPS once dominated.

One of these new players is India, which is trying to build a 7 satellite "mini-GPS" named Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), which specializes in providing navigation signals (compatible to GPS such that the 2 can be used together) to the southern Asian region. 3 of them have already entered service after launches in July 2013, April 2014 and October 2014. Today's launch marks the launch of the 4th one, which will enter an inclined geosynchronous orbit.

Unlike the last 5 launches, this one was originally scheduled much earlier in the month, but a communication transponder problem on the satellite forced the satellite to be de-stacked that delayed the launch from March 9. I'm hoping that today ISRO's recent good luck will continue! :tiphat:

Launch location:

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad 13°43′11.64″ N, 80°13′49.44″ E

Launch dates and times:

[table="head"]{colsp=7}Launch times

Time Zone|Australia - Sydney/AEDT UTC+11|Delhi / UTC+5.5​

|Moscow / MSK/ UTC+3|CEST UTC+1|Universal / UTC|Washington / EDT

Launch time:|22:49:00|17:19:00|14:49:00|12:49:00|11:49:00|07:49:00

on:|Mar. 28, 2015|Mar. 28, 2015|Mar. 28, 2015|Mar. 28, 2015|Mar. 28, 2015|Mar. 28, 2015​

{colsp=7}[highlight]

[eventTimer]2015-03-28 11:49:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] IRNSS-1D Launch[/highlight]​

[/table]

Live Coverage

• http://webcast.gov.in/live - begins about 30 minutes before the launch
  (also note better links may come later before launch)

Payload, Launch Vehicle and Launch Timeline

Weather Forecast for Chennai, India on March 28, 2015 (5 p.m.)

Sunny. High 34C. Winds ESE at 15 to 25 km/h.

Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
5 PM|31°C|24°C|66%|0%|0%|7%|1009 hPa|19 km/h ESE|

Clear

References
http://isro.gov.in/irnss-programme/pslv-c27-irnss-1d-mission
http://isro.gov.in/irnss-programme/pslv-c27-irnss-1d-brochure
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/irnss.htm
http://navipedia.org/index.php/IRNSS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Regional_Navigational_Satellite_System

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Webcast:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi-sDAL8jWg"]Launch of IRNSS-1D satellite - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

....and as could be seen by the lack of posts, the launch was uneventful. The next launch out of India is planned in June. :tiphat: