Aiming for the sky: Isro clears 48-hour countdown for launch of 20 satellites using PSLV-C34

Bengaluru: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Sunday night said it has cleared the 48-hour countdown, starting Monday morning, for the launch of record 20 satellites in a single mission on 22 June from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. [caption id=“attachment_2785162” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C34 will be used to carry the satellites, including India’s earth observation spacecraft Cartosat-2, from the second launch pad of the space centre at 9.26 am on 22 June. “Mission Readiness Review committee and Launch Authorisation Board have cleared the 48-hour countdown starting at 09.26 hr IST on Monday, June 20, 2016 and the launch of PSLV-C34/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite Mission for Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 09.26hr IST,” a senior ISRO official told PTI. The space agency had earlier sent 10 satellites into orbit in a single mission in 2008. PSLV-C34 will launch 19 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 560 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). ISRO said the total weight of all the 20 satellites carried on board PSLV-C34 is about 1,288 kg. The co-passengers include satellites from the US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia as well as two satellites from Indian Universities. The whole mission will get over in around 26 minutes. The images sent by Cartosat satellite will be useful for cartographic, urban, rural, coastal land use, water distribution and other applications. On the other hand, the 1.5 kg Sathyabamasat from Sathyabama University will collect data on green house gases while the 1 kg Swayam satellite from College of Engineering, Pune will provide point-to-point messaging services to the HAM radio community. The mission would carry LAPAN A3 of Indonesia, BIROS of Germany, SKYSAT GEN 2-1 of US, MVV of Germany among the micro satellites, ISRO sources had earlier said. With inputs from agencies.