The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the 51st mission of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Saturday afternooon. The carrier was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 3.12pm. Earlier, the launch time was at 3.02pm.
The carrier vehicle PSLV C49 will deliver 10 satellites in all with EOS-01 as the primary one. The EOS-01, an earth observation satellite, was announced to provide agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
ISRO had tweeted, “#PSLVC49 carrying #E0S01 and nine international customer satellites at First Launch Pad in Sriharikota ahead of its launch on November 07.”
This is first mission since the launch of RISAT-2BR1, another earth observation satellite similar to EOS-01, on December 11 last year. After that, ISRO had also sent communication satellite GSAT-30 in space in January this year, but that was done using an Ariane rocket launched from French Guiana. Thereafter, ISRO’s launch schedule was derailed by Covid-19.
The Organisation said that the customer satellites were being launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), department of space.
