During the PSLV-C58 X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) mission on January 1, 2024, the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) experiment was also executed by ISRO to meet the objective of 10 other payloads.
Key points
- ISRO said that after injection of XPoSat in 650 km, 6 deg orbit, launch vehicle’s fourth spent stage (PS4 stage) was lowered to 350 km, by restarting PS4 twice.
- PS4 stage is configured as a 3-axis stabilised orbital platform for conducting experiments to space qualify systems with novel ideas.
- This is the third flight of POEM, which can easily be described as a low-cost, non-human Indian space station.
- The Indian space agency first demonstrated the capability of using PS4 as an orbital platform in 2019 with the PSLV-C44 mission.
- The PSLV Orbital Experimental Module is a platform that will help perform in-orbit experiments using the final, and otherwise discarded, stage of ISRO’s workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
- The PSLV is a four-stage rocket where the first three spent stages fall back into the ocean, and the final stage (PS4) — after launching the satellite into orbit — ends up as space junk.
- However, in PSLV-C58 mission, the spent final stage was utilised as a “stabilised platform” to perform experiments.
- ISRO’s PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) allows in-orbit scientific experiments using the spent PS4 stage as an orbital platform.
- POEM will derive its power from solar panels mounted around the PS4 tank, and a Li-Ion battery. It will navigate using “four sun sensors, a magnetometer, gyros & NavIC”.
