Isro to launch EOS-8 satellite with SSLV-D3 on August 16

A day after India's Independence Day, Isro will launch Earth Observation Satellite-8 (EOS-8) using its recently built small satellite launch vehicle, SSLV-D3. Isro announced on X that the launch is slated for "August 16 in a launch window of one hour starting at 09:17 Hrs (IST)".

This is the third and last development flight from Sriharikota for SSLV. "It brings the SSLV development project to a close and opens up operational missions for NSIL and Indian industry," Isro said. Following a successful liftoff, the SSLV project will be initiated in accordance with NSIL's and the industry's operational and commercial requirements. Compared to PSLV, which takes more than a month to assemble and requires more workers, SSLV is a smaller version of PSLV that can be put together in a matter of days with fewer workers.

Since SSLV is an affordable launch vehicle, it would increase the number of Isro's commercial launches and aid India in gaining a larger market share in the space launch services industry worldwide, which was valued at $14.9 billion in 2023 and is projected to expand at a 14.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2030.


According to the space agency, the main goals of the EOS-08 satellite mission are to design and develop a microsatellite, create payload sensors that are compatible with the microsatellite bus, and incorporate new technologies that will be needed for operational satellites in the future.

With a one-year mission life, the spacecraft is configured for operation in a circular low earth orbit (LEO) at a height of 475 km and an inclination of 37.4°. The satellite weighs 175.5 kg and produces about 420 W of power. EOS-08, which is based on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, will be equipped with three payloads: the SiC UV Dosimeter, the Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry Payload (GNSS-R), and the Electro Optic Infrared Payload (EOIR).

For uses like satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activity observation, and industrial and power plant disaster monitoring, the EOIR payload is made to take pictures in the mid-wave infrared (MIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) bands both during the day and at night.

The communication, baseband, storage, and positioning (CBSP) package, an integrated avionics system that combines several tasks into a single, effective unit, is one of the major advancements in satellite mainframe systems marked by EOS-08. Up to 400 Gb of data storage is supported by this system, which is built using cold redundant systems using evaluation boards and commercially available components.

[With TOI inputs]