India to launch remote sensing satellite April 20

 
Bangalore: India will launch an advanced remote sensing satellite April 20 to study and manage natural resources, the space agency announced Saturday.

Preparations to launch the 1.2-tonne Resourcesat-2 spacecraft onboard the polar launch satellite vehicle (PSLV-C16) were progressing well at the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

Sriharikota, in Andhra Pradesh, is about 80 km northeast of Chennai,


The polar orbit rocket will also carry a 92 kg Youthsat, a joint Indo-Russian nanosatellite for stellar and atmospheric studies, and a 105 kg microsatellite X-sat for imaging applications, built by the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University.

"The launch authorisiation board will review the readiness of the rocket, satellites and ground stations April 16. The countdown will begin April 18 for the scheduled lift-off April 20 at 10.12 a.m.," the statement said.

The upcoming event will be the space agency's first launch mission after the failure of its geo-satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) Dec 25 due to snapping of 10 connectors within a minute after the 418-tonne rocket took off from the spaceport, carrying an advanced communication satellite.