ISRO to launch 6 Singapore satellites today
New Delhi: Dec 16:
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch six Singapore satellites this evening from its spaceport at Sriharikotta in Andhra Pradesh, some 90 kilometre north of Chennai.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C29 with the payloads on-board is set to take off at 6 pm today and insert them into near-earth orbits from about 20 minutes after the ignition.
The 59 hour countdown that began on Monday morning for the launch is going on systematically as planned.
The main payload in today’s commercial launch is the remote sensing satellite TeLEOS-One, and the other five co-passengers are smaller experimental satellites developed by two educational institutions of Singapore.
Singapore takes a significant leap into space with today’s launch that is set to place the 400 kilogram TeLEOS-One remote sensing satellite into a circular orbit at 550-kilometer altitude above the equatorial region using the highly reliable launch vehicle PSLV-C29 of Indian space agency ISRO.
Singapore has launched two payloads earlier using the PSLV, though they were smaller ones with limited operational life.
This is ISRO’s sixth exclusive commercial launch. PSLV’s last 31 flights have been flawlessly successful missions with textbook precision, and the scientists are gearing up for its 32nd flight this evening.
