
ISRO is all set to launch five British satellites on July 10 which together weigh around 1,440 kg. This will be the heaviest commercial luggage carried by the PSLV rocket till date.
ISRO is all set to launch five British satellites on July 10 which together weigh around 1,440 kg. This will be the heaviest commercial luggage carried by PSLV till date.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is all set to launch a rocket that will carry five British satellites.
ISRO started the 62 hours and 30 minutes countdown at 7.28 a.m. on Wednesday for the July 10th night launch of rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL variant.
The rocket, which is scheduled to blast off at 9.58 p.m. on July 10, will carry five satellites together weighing around 1,440 kg. As per ISRO, this is the heaviest commercial luggage carried by the PSLV rocket till date.
Photo for representation purpose only. Source: Facebook
Out of the five satellites, three are identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites weighing 447 kg. These will be put into a 647-km sun-synchronous orbit. The fourth satellite, CBNT-1 weighs 91 kg and is also an optical earth observation technology demonstration micro satellite. The last one is the De-OrbitSail which weighs 7 kg. This is an experimental nano satellite for demonstration of large thin membrane sail and drag de-orbiting.
PSLV, which is a four engine rocket, is 44.4 meters tall and weighs 320 tonnes. It has six straps on motors for additional thrust during the initial phase of the flight.
When the rocket is blasted, the first and third stages run on solid fuel while the second and fourth are powered by liquid fuel which will be filled during the countdown.
The systems will be checked and rechecked while the countdown is running. India has been successfully launching satellites of other countries since 1999 and has launched 40 such satellites so far.