Business Standard

India to launch 100th satellite today

- T E NARASIMHAN

India is set to launch its 100th satellite into orbit. The 28-hour countdown of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C40/Cartosat-2 series satellite mission started on Thursday morning.

Indian Space Research Organisati­on (Isro) officials said they were ready for the historic 100th mission, scheduled for Friday morning. The 42nd flight of India's PSLV-C40, carrying the 710-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite, is expected to take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) or Sriharikot­a High Altitude Range (SHAR), Sriharikot­a, at 9.30 am on Friday. This launch is a follow-on mission and aims to provide high-resolution and scene-specific spot imagery. It carries panchromat­ic and multispect­ral cameras and is capable of delivering high-resolution data. This will be the third satellite in the Cartosat-2 series.

Isro officials said after the PSLV-C39 failure, the organisati­on conducted repeated tests to ensure that such problems did not occur again, which is why Isro took slightly more time for the PSLV-C40 launch.

On August 31, following a perfect launch, India's mission to put its backup navigation satellite, IRNSS-1H, in orbit onboard PSLV-C39 failed after a technical fault in the final leg. The officials added the launch of three Indian satellites during the mission would mark the rollout of the 100th satellite from Isro. The 28-hour countdown activity for the mission started at 5:29 am on Thursday, January 11, 2018, after the Mission Readiness Review Committee and launch authorisat­ion board cleared the countdown on Wednesday. As the countdown began, the propellant filling operation of the fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C40 started.

The rocket will carry a Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observatio­n and 30 co-passenger satellites. Together, the 30 other satellites will weigh about 613 kg at lift-off. The co-passenger satellites comprise one microsatel­lite and one nanosatell­ite from India as well as three microsatel­lites and 25 nanosatell­ites from six countries — Canada, Finland, France, the Republic of Korea, the UK, and the US. The total weight of all the 31 satellites carried onboard PSLV-C40 is 1,323 kg.

The 28 internatio­nal customer satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangemen­ts between the commercial arm of Isro, Antrix Corporatio­n, and internatio­nal customers.

 ?? PHOTO: ISRO ?? PSLV-C40 at its first launch pad
PHOTO: ISRO PSLV-C40 at its first launch pad

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