India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 47th mission (PSLV-C45) successfully launched EMISAT from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on Monday.
Subsequently, 28 international customer satellites were injected into their designated orbit.
The rocket lifted off at 9.27 am from the second launch pad at the end of the 27-hour countdown.
“1200 people watched and enjoyed today’s #PSLVC45 launch from the new viewers’ gallery at Sriharikota. Next time we will have 5000 people watching the launch,” said Chairman, ISRO Dr K Sivan.
Weighing about 436 kg, EMISAT is based on ISRO’s Indian Mini Satellite -2 (IMS-2) bus platform. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement.
The PS4 orbital platform is envisaged to provide a microgravity environment for research organisations and academic institutes to perform experiments.
In this mission, the PS4 hosts three payloads, namely, Automatic Identification System (AIS) from ISRO, Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), India and Advanced Retarding Potential Analyzer for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS) from Indian Institute of Space Science and technology (IIST).
The 28-international customer satellites are from four countries, viz. Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland and USA.
All these satellites are being launched under commercial arrangements.
