02-16-2017, 01:22 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEC
Neat stuff. There was just a story on NPR's "Here and Now" about this as well.
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Indeed--judging by their facial expressions, the PSLV launch team members looked *more* tense after the fourth stage achieved orbit, but ^before^ the very complicated separation sequence began (-after- the Cartosat-2D primary satellite and the INS-1A and INS-1B secondary Indian satellites separated), leaving the remaining “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”—er, satellites—to separate safely with no collisions, or disturbances to the fourth stage's attitude while all of the satellites separated, or separation failures. Also:
The mission cost US $15 million (quoted here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSLV-C37 [it also says, "ISRO claimed that it would recover half the budget of the mission from the foreign countries whose satellites it would launch. [Note 11]"), so the per-kilogram cost (and the average per-satellite cost) were pretty reasonable for the satellites' owners. PLUS:
Here (see: http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c37-car...-c37-brochure-0 ) is an online flip brochure for the PSLV-C37 mission (it's the one that the guest spectators in the launch control center's viewing area can be seen reading in the various videos of the mission).
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