Chennai, July 11: The countdown for Monday’s launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket carrying five satellites, including one for cartography, is progressing without a hitch, an official said. The countdown started on Saturday morning for the launch of the 44-metre tall, 230-tonne PSLV.
“The countdown has been progressing smoothly and we are getting ready for the Monday launch,” Mr S. Satish, a director at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said.
The rocket will blast off into space from Sriharikota, around 80 km from here, carrying the 694 kg Cartosat 2B and an Algerian satellite Alsat (116 kg).
It will also carry three very small satellites — NLS 6.1 and NLS 6.2 from Canada and Switzerland, and StudSat — developed by students of engineering colleges in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Built to last for five years, the Rs 200-crore Cartosat-2B is India’s 17th remote sensing satellite and is meant to augment Isro’s remote sensing data services along with two other satellites, Cartosat-2 and 2A launched earlier.