NEW DELHI, INDIA (Xinhua) — India on Thursday began a 28-hour countdown for the launch of 31 satellites on a single mission from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.
The 31 satellites, including Cartosat (earth observation satellite), will be launched into space by state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) onboard its trusted workhorse Polar Launch Satellite Vehicle (PSLV) at 9.28 a.m. (local time) Friday.
“The 28-hour countdown activity of PSLV-C40/Cartosat2 Series Satellite Mission has started at 05:29 hours Indian Standard Time today,” the space agency said.
The Cartosat is essentially a remote sensing satellite, equipped with panchromatic and multi-spectral cameras and has a shelf life of five years.
Apart from Cartosat, other satellites comprise one micro and nanosatellite each from India as well as three micro and 25 nanosatellites from six countries — Canada, Finland, France, South Korea, Britain and the U.S.
The launch of the satellites was earlier slated for Jan. 10.
