ISRO launches Cartosat-2 satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites

ISRO launches Cartosat-2 satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites

Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  launched Cartosat-2 series satellite, along with 30 co-passenger satellites in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on Friday. The total weight of all these satellites carried onboard PSLV-C38 is about 955 kg. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 40th flight (PSLV-C38), launched the 712 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 243 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at 09.20 hours on Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 Nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America besides a Nano satellite from India. PSLV-C38 was launched from the First Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. This is the 40th flight of PSLV and 17th flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors). The space agency said the 29 international customers Nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), commercial arm of ISRO and international customers. Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite and it is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery. ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told reporters at Chennai airport that all the activities for the launch were going on. He expressed happiness on the "Mangalyan" mission completing 1,000 days on June 19 and said it had been performing very well. (With agency inputs)