India set to launch 31 satellites on January 10
India will launch 31 satellites, including the earth observation spacecraft Cartosat on January 10, from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, an official said last Saturday. “We have tentatively scheduled the rocket launch at 9.30am to carry Cartosat and other satellites, including 28 from the US and five other countries in a single mission,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Director Devi Prasad Karnik told IANS in Bengaluru.
The first space mission in 2018 onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) comes four months after a similar rocket failed to deliver the country’s eighth navigation satellite in the earth’s lower orbit on August 31. “The sixth Cartosat in the second series and other satellites are integrated with the rocket at the spaceport. The mission launch board will decide the rocket’s liftoff time for the reverse countdown two days ahead,” said Mr Karnik.
The mission’s payload will also include one each nano and micro satellite from India, besides Cartosat-2.
As an observational satellite, Cartosat will beam high-quality images for cartographic, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation and utility management like road network monitoring.
The previous two satellites in the Cartosat-2 series were launched on June 23 and February 15, from the spaceport on the east coast, about 90km up Chennai.