Sriharikota, Jan 11 (UNI) The 28 hour countdown of PSLV-C40 carrying 31 satellites including Cartosat-2 to be launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from its spaceport here on Friday is progressing smoothly.
ISRO sources said the countdown started at 05.29 hrs IST on Thursday and the propellant filling operation of fourth state (PS 4) was completed. The workhorse PSLV rocket will blast off at 0928 hrs tomorrow.
ISRO had suffered a setback in August last year when PSLVC39 mission failed to launch navigation satellite IRNSS-1H due to a heatshield problem.
The primary goal of the 42nd flight is to launch the 710 kg Cartosat-2 saries satellite for earth observation. The flight will achieve a milestone in the space programme of India with the 100th Indian built satellite taking to the skies.
The 30 co-passengers included a microsatellite and a nano satellite from India, besides three microsatellites and 25 nanosatellites from Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, UK and USA. The total weight of all the 31 satellites carried onboard PSLV-C40 is about 1323 kg.
UNI CNR-RS CS 1418