PSLV-C9 launch campaign satisfactory: ISRO

Chennai, Apr 24 (UNI) The launch campaign for the lift off of PSLV-C9 on April 28, with a record ten satellites on board, was progressing satisfactorily at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

A release from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the satellites had been integrated with the launch vehicle on April 18. The launch vehicle was moved to the second launch pad.

PSLV-C9 would be carrying India's latest Remote Sensing satellite, CARTOSAT-2A, along with an Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) and eight nano satellites from abroad. The launch would take place at 0920 hrs.

This would be the 13th flight of PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle of the ISRO, and third flight with 'core-alone' configuration.

The release said CARTOSAT-2A, weighing about 690 kg, carried a state-of-the-art Panchromatic camera (PAN) capable of taking black-and-white pictures in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The imagery would have a spatial resolution of about one metre.

The camera covered a swath (geographical strip of land) of about 9.6 km. The highly agile CARTOSAT-2A was steerable along as well as across the direction of its movement to facilitate imaging of any area more frequently.

CARTOSAT-2A would form a pair with CARTOSAT-2 launched in January 2007, providing more frequent revisit.

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