PSLV-37 re-enters earth's atmosphere as planned, says ISRO

The impact point of PSLV-37 Upper Stage was located in the North Atlantic Ocean. Pic/ISRO website

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that the upper stage of the PSLV-37 rocket has successfully re-entered Earth's atmosphere, as planned, reported news agency PTI.

The PSLV-C37 mission was successfully launched on February 15, 2017, and deployed a historic record launching 104 satellites in a single mission. The main payload of PSLV-C37 was Cartosat-2D and was accompanied by 103 co-passenger satellites.

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The mission not only set a new record but also displayed ISRO's capabilities in satellite deployment. After completing its mission, the upper stage, which is PS4, was left in a low Earth orbit of approximately 470 x 494 km size. The outer stage was regularly tracked, and its altitude gradually decreased due to atmospheric drag.

Since September 2024, ISRO's System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) has been regularly monitoring PS4's orbital decay. IS4OM successfully predicted the re-entry in the first week of October, with the actual event taking place on October 6. The impact point of its re-entry was located in the North Atlantic Ocean.

"The atmospheric re-entry of the rocket body within eight years of its launch is fully compliant with the international debris mitigation guidelines, in particular, the guideline of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) that recommends limiting the post-mission orbital life of a defunct object in Low-Earth orbit (LEO) to 25 years," said ISRO.

ISRO also stated that this requirement was met by properly designing a passivation sequence that lowered the orbit of PS4 after the injection of the payloads

ISRO is committed to reducing the residual orbital lifetime of PSLV upper stages to five years or less. This will be accomplished by actively de-orbiting, including engine re-starts used in missions such as PSLV-C38, PSLV-40, PSLV-C43, PSLV-C56, and PSLV-C58. ISRO is planning controlled re-entries for future PSLV missions to ensure responsible space operations.

ISRO will continue to implement proactive measures to meet the measures of the Debris Free Space Mission by the year 2030. This initiative displays ISRO's dedication to sustainable outer space activities while continuing to work in satellite technology and exploration.

(With inputs from PTI)