Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved another milestone with the successful launch of the EOS-08 Earth-observing satellite on Friday. The satellite was launched aboard the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 9:17am IST on August 16. This launch marks the third mission for the SSLV, a relatively new addition to India's fleet of rockets, designed specifically for deploying small satellites into low Earth orbit.
SSLV's Journey: From Initial Challenges to Success: The successful deployment comes after the SSLV-D3 suffered an early setback with an older EOS-02 satellite in its debut flight in August 2022. At the time, the mission failed when the rocket deployed the observing satellite, and a student-built cubesat, into incorrect orbits, lead to its premature return to Earth. However, ISRO quickly addressed these issues, and the SSLV's second flight in February 2023 was a success, with the rocket deploying three payloads into their designated orbits.