ISRO begins 48-hour countdown for launch of 20 satellites on Wednesday

Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday morning began the 48-hour countdown for the launch of India's Cartosat-2 series and 19 other satellites in a single mission slated for Wednesday.

According to ISRO, the Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C34 carrying 20 satellites will lift off from the rocket port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 9.26 am on June 22.

The rocket's main cargo will be India's 725.5 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation. The co-passenger satellites weighing totally around 560 kg are from US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia as well as one satellite each from Chennai's Sathyabama University and College of Engineering, Pune.

The total weight of all the 20 satellites carried onboard PSLV-C34 is about 1288 kg.

ISRO said the whole mission will get over in around 26 minutes.

The images sent by Cartosat satellite will be useful for cartographic, urban, rural, coastal land use, water distribution and other applications.

On the other hand, the 1.5 kg Sathyabamasat from Sathyabama University will collect data on green house gases while the 1 kg Swayam satellite from College of Engineering, Pune will provide point-to-point messaging services to the HAM radio community.

Wednesday's mission will be the first time the ISRO will be launching more the 10 satellites with a single rocket.

In 2008, the Indian space agency had launched 10 satellites in a single mission using the PSLV rocket.

(With Agency inputs)