Countdown for Indian rocket launch with 31 satellites to begin Thursday

The 28-hour countdown for the Friday morning launch of India's earth observation satellite Cartosat and 30 other satellites (29 foreign and one Indian) with Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will begin on Thursday morning, the Indian space agency said.

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) have cleared the 28-hour countdown to begin at 5.28 a.m. on Thursday.

India on Friday will launch its earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series weighing 712 kg and 30 co-passenger satellites.

According to ISRO, the PSLV rocket's XL variant is expected to lift off on Friday morning at 9.29 a.m. from the Sriharikota rocket port.

The 30 satellites will together weigh 243 kg and the total weight of all the 31 satellites, including Cartosat, is about 955 kg, ISRO said.

The rocket will sling the satellites into a 505 km polar sun sunchronous orbit (SSO).

The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the US as well as one Indian nano satellite.

The 29 international customer nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between ISRO's commercial arm, the Antrix Corporation Ltd and the international customers.

The Indian nano satellite 15 kg NIUSAT belongs to Nooral Islam University, Tamil Nadu. The satellite will provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications.

--IANS

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