On the finish of this yr India will check its home-grown electrical thrusters to steer satellites to the specified orbit, a expertise that guarantees to make spacecraft lighter and pack extra punch.
Delivering the Sardar Patel Lecture at Akashvani, Indian Area Analysis Organisation (ISRO) chairman S. Somanath mentioned the primary Expertise Demonstrator Satellite tv for pc (TDS-01) utilizing indigenously developed electrical propulsion might be launched in December.
The TDS-01 may also reveal indigenously constructed touring wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) which can be integral elements of assorted communication and microwave distant sensing payloads on satellites.
A four-tonne communication satellite tv for pc carries greater than two tonnes of liquid gasoline which is used to fireplace thrusters to steer it from the launch orbit to the specified geostationary orbit. These thrusters are additionally fired to maintain the satellite tv for pc within the desired orbit, if it strays because of atmospheric drag or on account of a pull as a result of gravity of the solar and the moon.
“A 4 tonne satellite tv for pc carries 2-2.5 tonnes of gasoline. In case of electrical propulsion, the gasoline requirement reduces to simply 200 kg,’ Somanath mentioned.
He mentioned as an alternative of chemical compounds, the electrical propulsion system (EPS) makes use of propellant gases corresponding to Argon as gasoline which is ionised utilizing solar energy.
