ISRO launches Indian earth-mapping and 30 other satellites from 8 countries into earth`s orbit

The Indian Space Research Organization's on Thursday morning launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket carrying Indian earth-mapping satellite HysIS and 30 other satellites from eight countries.

The rocket took off at 9.58 am from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh about 110 km from Chennai, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Within 17 minutes into the flight, the PSLV rocket placed the HysIS satellite in the 636-km polar sun synchronous orbit. 

HysIS has been developed by ISRO and has a mission life five years. It is the primary satellite of the PSLV-C43 mission. The mass of the spacecraft is about 380 kg.

“The primary goal of HysIS is to study the earth’s surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum,” said ISRO.

Among other 30 satellites, there's one Micro and 29 Nano satellites from eight different nations. While 23 satellites are from the US, the rest are from Australia, Canada, Columbia, Finland, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Spain.

“These satellites have been commercially contracted for launch through Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO,” said the space agency.

PSLV-C43, which is the 45th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), is the 'Core Alone' version of PSLV. It is the lightest version of the launch vehicle.

This is ISRO's second launch in the month. The space agency had launched its latest communication satellite GSAT-29 on board GSLV MkIII-D2 on November 14.