Scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) commenced the countdown on Friday for the launch of Earth Observation Satellite - Oceansat - and eight other customer satellites on a PSLV-C54 rocket from the spaceport of Sriharikota on Saturday.
The 25.30-hour countdown for the 56th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its extended version (PSLV-XL), started at 10:26 am today for the lift-off scheduled at 11:56 am on Saturday from the first launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, 115 km from Chennai.
The primary payload of the rocket is an Oceansat which would be separated in orbit-1 while the eight other nano-satellites would be placed in different orbits based on the customer requirements (in the Sun-synchronous polar orbits).
Including the primary payload, nine satellites would ride piggy-back on the 44.4-metre high PSLV-C54 which has a lift-off mass of 321 tonne. It is also the 24th flight of the PSLV-XL version.
The mission would be one of the longest ones undertaken by the ISRO scientists who would engage the rocket to change orbits using two-orbit change thrusters (OCTs) used in the PSLV-C54 launch vehicle. The separation of the Earth Observation Satellite is expected to take place in orbit-1 while the passenger payloads would be separated in Orbit-2.Read more on..
Comments