Nellore: The countdown for the landmark launch of the PSLV rocket carrying an Indian and nine foreign satellites at 3.25 pm on Wednesday is proceeding smoothly, the Indian Space Research Organi-sation said on Tuesday.
This will be the diamond jubilee vehicle mission from the Satish Dhavan Space Centre, Sriharikota range, and 37th launch from the First Launch pad. It is also the 50th launch for the PSLV.
The PSLV-C48 will place the RISAT-2BRI, a radar imaging earth observation satellite, in orbit along with the foreign satellites.
RISAT-2BR1 weighs about 628 kg and it will be placed into an orbit 576 km above the earth. Of the foreign satellites, six are from the US and one each from Israel, Italy and Japan. The international customer satellites are being launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).
The PSLV-C48 is the second flight of PSLV in ‘QL’ configuration, with 4 strap-on motors.
As is the tradition, Isro Chairman Dr. K. Sivan offered prayers at the Lord Balaji temple at Tirumala ahead of the launch. He also worshipped at the Changala Parameswari temple in Sullurpeta, the gateway to the spaceport at Sriharikota. Speaking to mediapersons, he said the countdown, which started at 4.40 pm, was proceeding smoothly.
The Mission Readiness Review Committee and Launch Authorisation Board gave the green signal to the launch.
