Within a fortnight of launching an Indian and 13 customer satellites from the US, ISROs workhorse launch vehicle PSLV will put one Indian and nine customer satellites in space This is the 50th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The rocket take off from the second launch pad at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh This isthe sixth launch of the year, including the big ticket Chandrayaan 2 mission. The space agency is planning to complete another PSLV launch in December, which will carry another five customer satellites along with its main payload.
The Indian satellite to be launched by PSLV C48 today – RISAT 2BR1 – is a 628 kg radar imaging earth observation satellite that will have applications in agriculture, forestry, and disaster management support. In just over 16 minutes from the launch, the satellite placed at an altitude of 576 km.
Following the separation of the India satellite, the nine customer satellites separated from the launch vehicle between 17 and 21 minutes. The foreign satellite launches were secured by the newly created commercial arm of ISRO, the NewSpace India Limited.
The commercial satellites being launched include six satellites from the USA – four remote sensing satellites, one earth imaging satellite, and one for technology demonstration, one radar earth observation satellite from Japan, one remote sensing satellite from Israel, and one satellite for search and rescue from Italy.