By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Chennai, Apr 19 (IANS): India's private space player Bellatrix Aerospace will send its experimental payload on Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C55) that is set to blast off on April 22 afternoon, said a senior ISRO official.
"Bellatrix Aerospace's payload will be flying in POEM (PSLV Orbital Experimental Module). It is an electric propulsion experiment," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official told IANS.
"Bellatrix ARKA series HET (solar electric propulsion) on board, ready for liftoff!" the company had tweeted.
However, an email sent to the company by IANS remains unacknowledged.
The Indian space agency uses the final stage (PS4) of the PSLV rocket as an orbital platform for in-orbit experiments.
The POEM derives the power from the solar panels mounted around the PS4 tank and a Li Ion battery. It navigates using four sun sensors, a magnetometer, gyros, and NavIC, andcarries dedicated control thrusters using helium gas storage. It is enabled with telecommand feature, ISRO had said.
The main payload of the PSLV C55 rocket will be the Singaporean earth observation satellite TeLEOS-2.
According to ISRO, the rocket is slated to liftoff from the rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 2.19 pm on April 22.