PSLV C 16 stands ready for tomorrow's launch
All is set for the launch of the country's latest remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 and two mini spacecraft on board PSLV-C16 tomorrow from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, over 90 km from here.
"The countdown is smooth. There are some sequences which are in progress. The weather is perfectly fine. With all this in place, we should be able to lift-off on schedule at 10.12 am tomorrow," ISRO spokesperson S Sathish said.
ISRO's workhorse PSLV has an impressive track record of 16 successful missions out of 17 attempts and has launched 44 satellites, including 25 payloads from abroad, since 1994.
The launch vehicle will place in polar sun synchronous orbit the 1206-kg Resourcesat-2, 92-kg Youthsat and 106-kg X-sat satellites 822 km above Earth. The mission's primary satellite, ISRO built Resourcesat-2, is an advanced remote sensing spacecraft to facilitate study and management of natural resources.
It will replace Resourcesat-1 launched in 2003 and provide data with enhanced multi-spectral and spatial coverage on natural resources. Resourcesat-2 with a five year space life will also carry an additional payload from COMDEV, Canada that will provide information on ship surveillance by making 14 orbits per day, ISRO said.
Youthsat, a joint Indo-Russian satellite for stellar and atmospheric studies will study the relationship between solar variability and thermosphere-ionosphere changes. The satellite with two-year life will carry two Indian and one Russian payload.
PSLV will also launch Singapore's first satellite X-SAT, a mini satellite that intends to demonstrate technologies related to satellite based remote sensing and onboard image processing.
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