ISRO to launch earth observation satellite, nine customer satellites this November

New Delhi, Oct 29: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said the country would launch its latest earth observation satellite (EOS-01) and nine international customer spacecraft onboard its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle 'PSLV-C49' from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 7.

It can be seen that this is the first launch by the ISRO since the coronavirus induced lockdown came into effect in March.

Taking to Twitter, ISRO said, "ISRO PSLV-C49 set to launch EOS-01 and nine customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 15.02 hours (IST) on November 7, 2020, subject to weather conditions."

Meanwhile, the city-headquartered ISRO said in a statement, "The EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support. The launch is tentatively scheduled at 3.02 pm on November 7 subject to weather conditions from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota."

The customer satellites are being launched under commercial agreement with New Space India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space, the ISRO said. It did not give further details.

According to reports, this would be the 51st mission of ISRO's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

In June, ISRO chairman K Sivan had said that 10 space missions, being prepared for launch in 2020, have been "disturbed" due to the lockdown. Sivan had told PTI that the ISRO will make an assessment of the impact of the lockdown on its missions. "Because of this (pandemic), everything got disturbed. We have to make an assessment after the Covid-19 issue is resolved," he had said.