BENGALURU: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launching PSLV-C40 with 31 satellites including earth observation spacecraft Cartosat-2 from the Satish Dhawan Spaceport in Sriharikota on January 12.
Besides Cartosat-2, the workhorse launcher would also carry 28 foreign satellites from the US and Finland. It would also launch two other Indian satellites— one nano spacecraft weighing just five kg and the other a micro satellite weighing about 100 kg, built by the space agency.
With the launch of these three satellites, ISRO will be earning a distinction of launching 100 satellites in its journey of making India among the top space faring states, a top ISRO official said on Tuesday.
The mission, whose main payload would be Cartosat-2 series earth observation satellite, will be the first PSLV mission in 2018 after the unsuccessful launch of navigation satellite IRNSS-1H in August last year.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Exhibition on AstroSat organised by ISRO at Jawaharlal Planetorium, ISRO Satellite Centre Director M Annadurai said the mission will be a combination of 25 nano satellites, three micro-satellites and one Cartosat satellite.
He said the other big launch coming up this year — will be lunar mission Chandrayaan-2, on board GSLV-Mk II. Testing and integration of this orbiter and the lander-rover was in the final stages and it would fly to reach lunar orbit in the first half of this year.
Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon, would be an advanced version of the Chandrayaan-1 launched nine years ago. This spacecraft is a composite model consisting of orbiter, lander and rover.
Dr Annadurai reiterated ISRO’s intention of increasing the industry participation in space missions. While ISRO wants to build its capability it also involve the industry and use the excess capacity for commercial use. (AGENCIES)
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