Chennai, June 30: The countdown for the
launch of an Indian rocket Monday morning
that will carry five foreign satellites is
progressing smoothly, the Indian space agency
ISRO said Sunday. According to Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO), the countdown
for the launch of rocket Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C23) Monday 9.52 a.m
is progressing smoothly.
The 30- minute countdown for the rocket’s flight
started Saturday morning at India’s rocket port
in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh around 80 km
from here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
scheduled to witness the rocket launch. This is
the first space mission after the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s
coming to power.
The five satellites are from four countries –
France, Germany, Canada and Singapore. The
rocket’s main luggage will be the 714-kg
French earth observation satellite SPOT-7. The
other satellites are: 14-kg AISAT of Germany;
NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) and NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) from
Canada each weighing 15 kg; and the seven-kg
VELOX-1 of Singapore.
The satellites are being launched under
commercial arrangements that Antrix
Corporation has entered into with the
respective foreign agencies. ISRO officials are
hoping that the agency’s around 20-minute
crucial space mission will turn out to be a
grand success. As per the mission plan, the
rocket will first release its heaviest and most
costly luggage -SPOT-7 – at around 18 minutes
after the launch.
India had launched another French satellite –
the 712-kg SPOT-6 in 2012. The latest in the
SPOT family of satellites is the SPOT-7.
Incidentally SPOT-7 is the heaviest foreign
satellite to be carried by PSLV. The ejection of
SPOT-7 will be followed by AISAT (Germany),
NLS7.1, NLS7.2 (both from Canada) and
VELOX-1 (Singapore).
Starting from 1999, India has launched 35
foreign satellites till date using its PSLV rocket.
The successful launch of five satellites Monday
would take the tally to 40. India began its
space journey in 1975 with the launch of
Aryabhatta - using a Russian rocket – and till
date it has completed over 100 space missions
including missions to the Moon and Mars.
