ISRO Launch Vehicles

Indian Space Research Organisation

Server sky's best first use is rural computing in the developing world, and India's rural half billion could connect with their cell phones, through antenna panels on cell towers, to a modest server sky array. 12 low-population arrays can provide overlapping coverage to villages in northern mountain valleys. Assume 12 "open" and 12 "managed" arrays in the first launch.

Using small 5300 5 gram thinsat arrays, spot size would be larger, but adequate for gigabit communication per village and small town. Assuming 50% extra weight for extra delta V to m288 and for apogee insertion motors (reusable in the future as ballast), and 3 spare launch bundles for backup, the entire system could launch with one 1000kg-to-LEO booster, or with 25 40kg-to-LEO boosters.

Server sky thinsat arrays are both much lighter than big-iron comsats, they are 7 times closer to earth than GEO, and can focus on much smaller ground spots. While a GEO comsat can focus on regions, server sky can focus down to city blocks, and multiplex transmit beams, while ground antennas can rapidly sequence between arrays .

ISRO's Launchers

All vehicles launch from the Satish Dhawan Launch Centre (formerly the Sriharikota High Altitude Range ) at 13°43′12″N in Andhra Pradesh, 80 km north of Chennai (on India's southeast east coast). All these vehicles are larger than needed; perhaps they can launch many more than 25 arrays, selling them to other operators. Keep in mind that the arrays around the earth and below the horizon from India (70% of the total!) can serve other parts of the globe until they return to India's sky.

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