Satellite Launch Vehicle

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 and carry a payload of . It was a four-stage rocket with all solid-propellant motors.

History 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 set up in early 1972 by Vikram Sarabhai for an inaugural launch in 1977. 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. 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 . 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.

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.

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. The aerodynamic characterization research was conducted at the National Aerospace Laboratories' 1.2m Trisonic Wind Tunnel Facility.

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. 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.

Launch history 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. The first experimental flight of SLV, in August 1979, was a failure. The first successful launch took place on 18 July 1980.

Flight No. Date / time (UTC) Rocket, Configuration Launch site Payload Payload mass Orbit User Launch outcomeE1 10 August 1979 Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV Launch Pad Rohini Technology Payload 35 kg Low Earth ISRO Faulty valve caused vehicle to crash into the Bay of Bengal 317 seconds after launch.E2 18 July 1980 Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV Launch Pad Rohini RS-1 35 kg Low Earth ISRO It was the first satellite successfully launched by the indigenous launch vehicle SLV. It provided data on the fourth stage of SLV.D1 31 May 1981 Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV Launch Pad Rohini RS-D1 38 kg Low Earth ISRO Orbit too low. Decayed after nine daysD2 17 April 1983 Satellite Launch Vehicle SLV Launch Pad Rohini RS-D2 41.5 kg Low Earth ISRO Earth Observation satellite. The launch was witnessed by then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi.

Launch statistics

Decade-wise summary of SLV launches Decade Successful Partial success Failure Total1970s 0 0 1 1 1980s 2 1 0 3 Total 2 1 1 4

Satellite Launch Vehicle

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