Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch 31 satellites using its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) on January 12 from Satish Dhawan space port at Sriharikota. With this ISRO will be launching its 100th satellite along with other 31 satellites. This is the first launch of the PSLV after the failed mission in August last year. Addressing the media at the sidelines of a programme on Tuesday in Bengaluru, Director of the Centre M Annadurai said that a total of 31 satellites will be launched via the PSLV.
“We will have different families of satellites - such as microsats and nanosats - put into orbit. Of the 31 satellites, 28 are from foreign nations and three are from India,” he said.
PSLV would carry apart from Cartosat-2 series satellite, two micro satellites besides 28 of different sizes and shapes belonging to various countries.
The Cartosat is a will provide high resolution scene specific spot imageries for civilian and military applications. It carries Panchromatic and Multi-spectral cameras operating in Time Delay Integration (TDI) mode and is capable for delivering high resolution data.
Annadurai said they are taking all measures in view of setback to PSLV-C39/IRNSS-1H mission. He said that mission failed because the heat shield of the rocket did not open to launch the satellite, though it reached sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit.
On the failure of the recent launch, he said that scientists at ISRO have understood the problem and have done repeated testing to ensure that the problem does not repeat in the near future.
According to a release by the ISRO, PSLV - which is in its forty-second flight - will launch the 710 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger satellites which have a combined weight of 613 kgs. The launch will be from Satish Dhawam Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Apart from Cartosat-2, the payload will consist of one microsatellite and one nanosatellite from India, and three micro and 25 nanosatellites from six countries — Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, UK and USA.
Annadurai said that Chandrayaan-2 was in its final stages of testing and integration and is expected to be launched in March this year. On Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), he said that following the failure of IRNSS-1H last August, IRNSS-1I will be put into space. Full integration of the satellite is being done by private industry in collaboration with ISRO, he added.