ISRO to launch Cartosat-2 with 28 co-passenger satellites in December

New Delhi: After launching its earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 along with 30 co-passenger satellites in June this year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to flag off the satellite once again, this time with 28 foreign satellites riding piggy-back in December.

In August, ISRO faced a minor setback during the launch of its eighth navigation satellite – the IRNSS-1H – when the PSLV-C39 rocket's heat shield which was supposed to separate in order to release the satellite failed to do, resulting in the failure of the Rs 250-crore mission.

With this announcement, however, ISRO is all set to take over the space race once again.

ISRO, considered the new kid on the block in the multi-billion dollar world launcher market, aims to set an enviable benchmark for the space-fairing nations.

With its commendable space program, ISRO is being lauded across the globe as one of the pioneers in space, along with exemplaries like NASA, JAXA and Roscosmos.

"In the next launch, we have a Cartosat along with 28 international commercial satellites, which we will launch in the second half of December," said S. Rakesh, the Chairman and Managing Director of Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

There will be 25 nano satellites and three micro satellites from the US and other countries as co-passengers along the space firm's own satellite of the Cartosat-2 series, he said.

The satellites will be launched into the orbit onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), Rakesh added.

The next launch will be keenly watched and monitored as it comes after PSLV failed to deploy a spare navigation satellite on August 31.

The Cartosat-2 is an earth observation satellite that is capable of providing high-quality images.

Imageries from Cartosat-2 series are used for cartographic, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and man-made features and other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

The previous satellite (Cartosat-2E) in the series was launched on February 15 this year from the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 90km northeast of Chennai.

(With IANS inputs)