NNWN / New Delhi, 2017-06-22

Indian Space Research Organisation( ISRO) will be at it again. The ISRO will launch its earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series  and 30 co passenger satellites on Friday morning. The countdown for the mega launch has already begun.Scientists in India in India and elsewhere in the world will closely watch the mega launch of satellites.

The satellite Cartosat and 30 other satellites (29 foreign and one Indian) with Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is expected to lift off on Friday morning at 9:29am Indian Standard Time ( IST) from the Sriharikota rocket port. The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the US as well as one Indian nano satellite.

According to ISRO, the Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) have cleared the 28-hour countdown to begin at 5:28am IST on Thursday.

The 30 satellites will together weigh 243kg and the total weight of all the 31 satellites, including Cartosat, is about 955kg, ISRO said. The rocket will sling the satellites into a 505km polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO).

The 29 international customer nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between ISRO's commercial arm, the Antrix Corporation Limited and the international customers.

The Indian nano satellite 15kg NIUSAT belongs to Nooral Islam University, Tamil Nadu. The satellite will provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications.