India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty second flight (PSLV-C40),  launched the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 613 kg at lift-off successfully. PSLV-C40  was launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

The co-passenger satellites comprise one Microsatellite and one Nanosatellite from India as well as 3 Microsatellites and 25 Nanosatellites from six countries, namely, Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, UK and USA. The total weight of all the 31 satellites carried onboard PSLV-C40 is about 1323 kg.

The 28 International customer satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), a Government of India company under Department of Space (DOS), the commercial arm of ISRO and the International customers.

PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite Mission was launched on Friday, Jan 12, 2018 at 09:28 Hrs (IST). The launch went off as expected by the team of scientists , ending any questions that had been raised in the past when the PSLV-C39 had failed in its mission.

After separation, the two solar arrays of Cartosat-2 series satellite deployed automatically and ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bengaluru took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provideremote sensing data using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras.

The 11 kg INS-1C and and the 100 kg class Microsat, the two Indian co-passenger satellites of Cartosat-2, are also being monitored and controlled from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. The 28 international customer satellites belong to Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, UK and the USA.

So far, PSLV has successfully launched 51 Indian satellites and 237 customer satellites from abroad.