Chennai sources stated that the 33 hour countdown for the launch of two earth observation satellites on-board PSLV from the space port of Sriharikota, about 110 kilometers from Chennai, began at 1.08 pm on Saturday. Meanwhile the Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO's trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C42 (PSLV) would carry the satellites, NovaSAR and S1-4, together weighing over 800 kilograms, at lift off on Sunday at 10.07 pm.
Accordingly the foreign satellites, meant for forest mapping and flood and disaster monitoring, among other uses, would be released into sun synchronous orbit at a height of 583 km. furthermore they have been developed by Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited, United Kingdom and the mission is a commercial arrangement between the company and Antrix Corporation Limited, which is the commercial wing of ISRO.
Hence this would be the 44th flight of the PSLV and the third launch by
ISRO this year and earlier in January, PSLV-C40 launched India's weather
observation satellite Cartosat 2 Series and PSLV-C41 launched IRNSS - 1I
navigation satellite in April.
