Why in news?  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will undertake the second development flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from Sriharikota.

Highlights

• The mission objective are to demonstrate in-flight performance of SSLV vehicle systems and inject the three satellites into a 450km circular orbit.
• The three satellite are ISRO’s EOS-07, the U.S.-based firm Antaris’s Janus-1 and the Chennai-based space start-up Space Kidz’s Azaadi SAT-2 satellites.

About EOS-07

• Developed and realised by the ISRO.
• Its mission objective is to design and develop payload instruments compatible with micro satellite bus and technologies that are required for future operational satellites.
• Would design and develop a micro satellite accommodating new technology payloads in a quick turnaround time.
• New experiments include mm-Wave humidity sounder and spectrum monitoring payload

About Small Satellite Launch Vehicle

• SSLV caters to the launch of satellites weighing up to 500 kg to low earth orbits on a ‘launch-on-demand’ basis.
• It provides low-cost access to space, offers low turnaround time and flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, and demands minimal launch infrastructure.
• It is configured with three solid propulsion stages and a velocity terminal module.
• It is a 34-m-tall, 2- m-diameter vehicle with a lift-off mass of 120 tonnes.
• In the future, a dedicated launch site called SSLV Launch Complex (SLC) near Kulasekharapatnam in Tamil Nadu will handle SSLV launches to Sun-synchronous orbit