Question

Which of the following satellite launchers is developed by India?
A) INSAT
B) IRNSS
C) EDUST
D) PSLV

Answer 1

Hint: A satellite launcher is nothing but a satellite launching vehicle, which is used to launch satellites to space. A satellite launching vehicle carries a satellite inside it and goes a certain distance away from the Earth’s surface before releasing the satellite to space. Today, satellite launchers are developed by almost all the nations, who are interested in space research.

Complete answer:
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is a satellite launching vehicle designed, developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is a medium-lift launch vehicle (MLV), which can carry a load between 2000kg to 20000kg to the Earth’s atmosphere. It is an expendable vehicle, which suggests that the vehicle can only be launched once. The components of the satellite launcher are either destroyed or discarded in space after its single launch. PSLV was developed by India to launch Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites to space, but the vehicle found many more applications in the coming years.

Some of the notable satellite launches made by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) include Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission(Mangalyaan) and Astrosat. Apart from launching Indian satellites, PSLV has also helped other countries to launch their satellites. As of December 2019, PSLV has launched 319 foreign satellites from 33 different countries.

PSLV launches satellites into Geostationary Transfer Orbit(GTO). The Geostationary Satellite Orbit (GTO) is an elliptical orbit used to transfer between two circular orbits of different radii in the same plane. These satellites which are launched in this orbit are further transferred to the desirable orbits in space.
PSLV is the third generation satellite launcher of India. It has a height of 44m and a diameter of 2.8m. It is the first Indian satellite launcher to be equipped with liquid stages. It’s first flight was on September 20, 1993.

So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Additional Information:
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is a navigation system used to provide accurate real-time geo-spatial positioning of a satellite.
Indian National Satellite system (INSAT) is the name given to a series of satellites launched by the ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications and broadcasting requirements of the country.
EDUSAT or GSAT-3 is the first Indian communications satellite built exclusively to serve the educational sector of our country.

Note:
In such types of questions, where only short forms of the answers are given, one or two options might be given in wrong spellings or in wrong context. For example, in this question, EDUSAT is given as EDUST, which is wrong. It is easy to rule out such options if the student is aware of basic information related to the question. Students need to be well aware of the projects developed in the country. Students must frequently try to go through the various projects undertaken by the ISRO as well as other space agencies to update themselves.