ISRO launches first set of commercial satellites

Chennai, July 10: ISRO-the Indian space agency is likely to set its heaviest commercial mission from Sriharikota today. In this mission, five British satellites will be placed on board PSLV-28. The countdown began at 7:28 am on Wednesday and was progressing smoothly till the launch that was scheduled for 9:58 pm on Thursday, said ISRO officials.

The agency's workhorse will lift off 44.4 metre tall PSLV-XL version from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota and would place on orbit five satellites. With a total mass of 1,440kg, the launch is the heaviest commercial mission undertaken by the ISRO and its commercial arm Antrix Corporation.

Three identical DMC3 optical observation satellites and two auxiliary satellites will be launched into a 647 km sun-synchronous Orbit. These will be done by the high-end version of PSLV-XL.

With a life of 7 years, the satellites can image any target on the Earth's surface every day. However, the major application areas include surveying the resources on earth and its environment, managing urban infrastructure and monitoring disasters.