This page provides a list summary of the launches taken place in Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It is the main satellite launch centre for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, 80 km (50 mi) north of Chennai. Originally called Sriharikota Range[1] (SHAR), an acronym that ISRO has retained to the present day. The centre was renamed in 2002 after the death of ISRO's former chairman Satish Dhawan.
Launch statistics
As of 17 February 2024, there have been a total of 97 launches from the three main orbital pads,[Note 1] including 82 successful launches, 5 partial successes,[Note 2] and 10 failed launches. In addition to this, an indefinite number of suborbital launches has taken place from the Sounding Rocket Complex.
Unexpected large disturbance at the second stage separation resulting in a sub-orbital flight of the vehicle. One of the retro rockets designed to pull the burnt second stage away from the third stage failed.[6]
PSLV's first operational flight, placed IRS-1D into a polar orbit. However, it did not place the satellite in the desired circular orbit of 817 km, but in an elliptical orbit due to a leak of helium gas from one of the components.[7][8]
Placed three satellites in orbit - TES of India, PROBA (PRoject for On Board Autonomy) of the European Space Agency and the BIRD (Bispectral and Infrared Remote Detection) of Germany.
India's first launch to place a satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The flight path of PSLV-C4 was specially modified to inject the satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit having a perigee 250 km and an apogee of 36,000 km.
For the first time, a Dual Launch Adopter (DLA) was used in the PSLV to accommodate two primary satellites at the same time.[14] Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) also launched. The SRE-1 module remained in orbit for 12 days before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and splashing down into the Bay of Bengal 22 January 2007. The re-capture of the SRE-1 module made India the fourth country to do so after the US, Russia and China.[15]
Main satellite Cartosat-2B and Algeria's ALSAT-2A along with AISSat-1, TIsat-1, and StudSat. TIsat-1 is the second ever Swiss satellite launched into Space. AISSat-1 and TIsat are part of NLS-6.[20]
The Megha-Tropiques satellite for climate research launched along with three microsatellites: SRMSAT, the remote sensing satellite Jugnu and the VesselSat-1 to locate ships on high seas.[22][23]
Suborbital. RLV-TD is one of the most technologically challenging endeavors of ISRO towards developing essential technologies for a fully reusable launch vehicle to enable low cost access to space.
First demonstration flight of SSLV which carried the satellite payloads EOS 02 and AzaadiSAT. Due to sensor failure coupled with shortcomings of onboard software, the stage as well as the two satellite payloads were injected into an unstable elliptical orbit, and subsequently destroyed upon reentry.[59][60][61]
First launch from the Second Launch Pad, inaugurated on the immediately preceding day. After its integration in the Vehicle Assembly Building, the PSLV-C6 was transported on rails to the Umbilical Tower (UT) located 1 km away using the Mobile Launch Pedestal where the final operations were carried out.[62]
Successful Launch,[64] apogee lower and inclination higher than expected, due to minor error in guidance subsystem.[65] Eventually the 2160 kg payload reached the designated geostationary transfer orbit.[66][67]
Rocket put 10 satellites into orbit in a precisely timed sequence, highest by any Indian launch vehicle. Two satellites belonged to India and the remaining were very small ones built by universities in different countries.[68]
First flight test of the ISRO designed and built Cryogenic Upper Stage. Failed to reach orbit due to malfunction of Fuel Booster Turbo Pump (FBTP) of the Cryogenic Upper Stage.[71]
Payload fairing (heat shield) failed to separate, causing the IRNSS-1H satellite to remain inside the fairing with the payload dispenser detaching the satellite internally.[95]
Launch of GSAT-6A using an enhanced version of the Vikas engine called High Thrust Vikas Engine (HTVE) which had a thrust of 848 kN in GS2 stage.[96][97]
Launch of DS-EO electro-optical satellite and two other small satellites from Singapore.[105] It also carried the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) that is attached to upper stage to carry in-orbit experiments and carries 6 hosted payloads.[106]
The first experimental mission of ISRO's Scramjet Engine towards the realisation of an Air Breathing Propulsion System was successfully conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
Crew Escape System along with the simulated crew module with a mass of 12.6 tonnes, lifted off at 07.00 AM (IST) at the opening of the launch window from its pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Notes
^Manually counting from the below given list of launches. All the stats given in this section have been found out using the same way.
^A partial success occurs when the payload is placed into an orbit where it was still usable even though the intended height or orbit was not reached, or which could be corrected with the spacecraft's own propulsion.
References
^Indian Space Research Organization (2015). "4.1 The Spaceport of ISRO - K. Narayana". From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey. India: Harper Collins. p. 328. ISBN9789351776901. Archived from the original on 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2018-02-10. This centre was originally named SHAR (an acronym for Sriharikota Range – mistakenly referred to as Sriharikota High Altitude Range by some people) by Sarabhai. SHAR in Sanskrit also means arrow, symbolic of the nature of activity and that seems to be the significance of the acronym.