Which of the following statements is/are correct ? 1. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the fourth generation launch vehicle of India. 2. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India. Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages. Hence, Statement 2 is correct. After its first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV emerged as the reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India with 39 consecutively successful missions by June 2017. During the 1994-2017 period, the vehicle has launched 48 Indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad. Besides, the vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013 – that later travelled to Moon and Mars respectively. PSLV earned its title 'the Workhorse of ISRO ' through consistently delivering various satellites to Low Earth Orbits , particularly the IRS series of satellites. It can take up to 1,750 kg of payload to Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits of 600 km altitude. Due to its unmatched reliability, PSLV has also been used to launch various satellites into Geosynchronous and Geostationary orbits , like satellites from the IRNSS constellation . PSLV uses 6 solid rocket strap-on motors to augment the thrust provided by the first stage in its PSLV-G and PSLV-XL variants. However, strap-ons are not used in the core alone version (PSLV-CA).