“The final two D-boost burns were executed by firing four 11s at 4.32pm and 6.22pm respectively. Newton thrusters On-board the satellite for about 20 minutes. The final perigee was estimated to be less than 80 km indicating that the satellite would enter the dense layer of Earth’s atmosphere and subsequently undergo structural disintegration. Re-entry aero-thermal flux analysis confirmed that no major debris pieces survived,” ISRO said.
TOI had reported on March 5 that ISRO will attempt this challenging experiment: Megha-Tropics re-entry.
ISRO has gradually brought the satellite down to its perigee (closest point to Earth) since August 2022, consuming about 120 kg of fuel. Multiple techniques, including the ultimate de-boost technique, were designed considering several limitations including re-visibility. -Entry trace on the ground station, ground impact within the targeted zone and allowable operating conditions of the subsystems, in particular the maximum deliverable thrust and maximum firing duration limitations on the thrusters.
“All maneuver plans were screened to ensure that no maneuvers followed close approaches to other space objects, particularly to manned space stations such as the International Space Station and the International Space Station. Chinese space stationISRO said.
The latest telemetry confirmed that the satellite had re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean, with the final impact zone being in the deep Pacific Ocean within the expected latitude and longitude boundaries.
The entire sequence of events was executed from ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) Mission Operations Complex in Bangalore.
In recent years, ISRO has taken proactive steps to improve compliance levels with internationally accepted guidelines on space debris mitigation. Efforts are underway to build indigenous capabilities for tracking and monitoring space objects to protect Indian space assets, ISRO said.
“The ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) has been established to manage such activities. The controlled re-entry exercise bears yet another testimony to India’s continued efforts to ensure long-term sustainability of space operations,” it added.
MT-1 was launched on October 12, 2011, as a collaborative effort between ISRO and the French space agency CNES to carry out tropical weather and climate research.
the tropics
