Satellite Launch Vehicle

Satellite Launch Vehicle
Function
Project cost
Cost per launch
Cost per year
Size
Stages
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Altitude	Template:Cvt
	41.5 kg (91 lb)
Volume
Associated rockets
Family
Launch history
Status
Launch sites
Total launches
Success(es)
FailureTemplate:Pluralize from text
Partial failureTemplate:Pluralize from text
Notable outcomeTemplate:Pluralize from text
Landings
First flight
Last flight
First stage
Empty mass
Gross mass
Propellant mass
Specific impulse
Burn time
Propellant
Second stage
Empty mass
Gross mass
Propellant mass
Specific impulse
Burn time
Propellant
Third stage
Empty mass
Gross mass
Propellant mass
Specific impulse
Burn time
Propellant
Fourth stage
Empty mass
Gross mass
Propellant mass
Specific impulse
Burn time
Propellant
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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 Template:Cvt. 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 setup 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 ₹20 crore (equivalent to ₹463 crore or US$48 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.

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 outcome
E1	10 August 1979	Satellite Launch Vehicle	SLV Launch Pad	Rohini Technology Payload	35 kg	Low Earth	ISRO	Failure
	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	Template:Success
	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	Template:Partial failure
	Orbit too low. Decayed after nine days
D2	17 April 1983	Satellite Launch Vehicle	SLV Launch Pad	Rohini RS-D2	41.5 kg	Low Earth	ISRO	Template:Success
	Earth Observation satellite. The launch was witnessed by then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi.

Launch statistics

1

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

•   Failure
•   Partial failure
•   Success

Decade-wise summary of SLV launches

Decade	Successful	Partial success	Failure	Total
1970s	0	0	1	1
1980s	2	1	0	3
Total	2	1	1	4

See also

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

External links

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