Earth observation satellite HysIS, 30 co-passenger satellites placed in orbit
Sriharikota (AP), Nov 29: ISRO's workhorse rocket PSLV-C43 Thursday successfully injected into orbit India's earth observation satellite HysIS along with 30 co-passenger satellites from eight countries.
The rocket lifted off majestically into cloudy skies in a burst of orange flames at 9.57 am from the first launch pad at this spaceport at the end of a 28-hour countdown.
The HysIS was placed into orbit 17 minutes and 27 seconds after lift-off.
ISRO chief K Sivan and the space agency's scientists broke into cheers as the earth observation satellite was injected into sun-synchronous polar orbit.
During the launch however, scientists had to restart the fourth stage engine twice for placing the 30 co-passenger satellites. According to an official, the fourth stage engine was cut off after the earth observation satellite was separated at an altitude of 636.3 km.
Scientists also had to reduce the altitude from 636 km to around 504 km to place the 30 satellites in the sun-synchronous polar orbit one by one.
The mission was one of the longest mission for ISRO.
A similar operation was undertaken when scientists injected eight different satellites including the country's weather satellite SCATSAT-1 and five from other nations in two different orbits on September 25, 2016.
The primary mission of the Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS), whose life is five years, is to study the earth's surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
It is the primary satellite of the PSLV-C43 mission, which is on its 45th flight.
The mass of the spacecraft is about 380 kg, and the satellite would be placed in 636 km-polar sun synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.957 degrees, ISRO said.
The co-passenger satellites have been contracted for launch through ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited.
PSLV-C43, is the 'Core Alone' version of PSLV. It is the lightest version of the launch vehicle.
This is ISRO's second launch in the month.
The space agency had launched its communication satellite GSAT-29 on board GSLV MkIII-D2 on November 14.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
