Satellite Launch Vehicle

Satellite Launch Vehicle

Satellite Launch Vehicle
Function	Small-lift launch vehicle
Manufacturer	ISRO
Country of origin	India
Size
Height	22 m (72 ft)
Diameter	1 m (3.3 ft)
Mass	17,000 kg (37,000 lb)
Capacity
Payload to LEO	41.5 kg (91 lb)
Associated rockets
Derivatives	ASLV, PSLV
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Total launches	4
Successes	2
Failures	1
Partial failures	1
First flight	10 August 1979
Last flight	17 April 1983
Notable payloads	Rohini
First stage
Propellant mass	8.6 t (19,000 lb)
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	450 kN (100,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	253 seconds (2.48 km/s)
Burn time	72 seconds (Altitude of 32 KM)
Fuel	PBAN (Polybutadiene acrylonitrile) Solid[1]
Second stage
Propellant mass	3 tonnes
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	20 tonnes
Specific impulse	267 sec
Burn time	40 seconds
Fuel	PBAN (Polybutadine Acrylo Nitrate) Solid
Third stage
Propellant mass	1 tonnes
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	6.3 tonnes
Specific impulse	277 sec
Burn time	45 seconds
Fuel	High energy propellant (HEF 20) Solid
Fourth stage
Propellant mass	262 kg
Engines	1 solid
Thrust	2.4 tonnes
Specific impulse	283 sec
Burn time	33 seconds
Fuel	High energy propellant (HEF 20) Solid

The Satellite Launch Vehicle or SLV was a small-lift launch vehicle project started in the early 1970s by ISRO to develop the technology needed to launch satellites. SLV was intended to reach a height of 400 kilometres (250 mi) and carry a payload of 40 kg (88 lb).^[2] It was a four-stage rocket with all solid-propellant motors.^[3]

The SLV-3 project was the first Indian Satellite launch vehicle project to develop a rocket capable of launching an 40 kilogram Rohini satellite into low-earth orbit from India. The project was setup in early 1972 by Vikram Sarabhai for an inaugural launch in 1977.^[4] The project was led by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam as the project director, along with other prominent Indian engineers such as Dr. S. Srinivasan, Ved Prakash Sandlas, D. Narayanamoorthi, G. Madhavan Nair, M.S.R. Dev, M.K. Abdul Majeed, D. Sasikumar, P.S. Veeraraghavan and A. Sivathanu Pillai. India would develop and launch its first satellite, Aryabhatta on a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket in 1975.^[5] The rocket represented the culmination of seven years of developmental efforts of ISRO. The rocket was designed with 44 major systems and 250 sub-systems and was mostly built in Thumba. Much of the control systems were developed on the indigenous Iris 55 computers. The total development cost for the SLV-3 programme by 1980 was ₹20 crore (equivalent to ₹372 crore or US$52 million in 2023). Some components (up to 15% of the original design) had been developed from a joint project with CNES for the upper stage development, which was partially inspired from the Diamant rocket.^[6][4][7]

The SLV-3 was primarily developed from technology built for the smaller Rohini sounding rockets which had been used by ISRO previously. The SLV-3 was unique in the fact that it was not derived from an pre-existing Ballistic missile, as the early rockets of most nations were. The First stage of the SLV-3 rocket would eventually be used on the PSLV as a booster stage. The stage would also be repurposed for the India's strategic Agni ballistic missile family.^[8][9][10]

It took approximately seven years to realise the vehicle from start. The solid motor case for first and second stage were fabricated from 15 CDV6 steel sheets and third and fourth stages from fibre reinforced plastic.^[1] The aerodynamic characterization research was conducted at the National Aerospace Laboratories' 1.2m Trisonic Wind Tunnel Facility.^[11]

The first launch of the SLV took place in Sriharikota on 10 August 1979. The fourth and final launch of the SLV took place on 17 April 1983.

The United States would later accuse India that the SLV-3 rocket was a copied derivative of the Scout rocket, and the Agni-I missile (with SLV-3 design heritage) combined it with a liquid fuelled stage from the SA-2 missile.^[12][7] The US would also claim German,French and Russian compliancy for the rocket, with the Germans supplying most major technologies and the testing wind-tunnel models. The Indian scientists have opposed it, stating that the rocket was built for peaceful exploration purposes. Notably, while the rocket shared some superficial design similarities, they used different propellants, and the SLV-3 incorporated a higher Length/Diameter ratio, had different thrust rates and burn times. Unlike the early Scout rockets, the SLV-3 incorporated a larger payload fairing, although they could not launch as much payload to orbit.^[13][14]

All four SLV launches occurred from the SLV Launch Pad at the Sriharikota High Altitude Range. The first two launches were experimental (E) and the next 2 were designated as developmental (D) as this was the first launch vehicle being developed by India and was not intended for a long service life.^[15] The first experimental flight of SLV, in August 1979, was a failure.^[3] The first successful launch took place on 18 July 1980.

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Decade-wise summary of SLV launches

• Comparison of orbital launchers families
• Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
• Scout Rocket
• Kosmos-3M

• https://web.archive.org/web/20071009040815/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SPACE/space-launchers-slv.html

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