2017 was a remarkable year for the Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) and it is looking to kickstart 2018 with another big launch, on 12 January 2018.
Dubbed the PSLV C-40, the rocket will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
What makes this launch historic – apart from the fact that it’s carrying 28 other satellites from foreign nations – is that this launch will have the 100th satellite the Indian space agency puts in space.
Also Read: How Indian Space Agency ISRO Had a Record-Breaking 2017
Here are the 28 international co-passengers on-board the PSLV C-40
Apart from the 3 Indian satellites, the rocket will also be carrying 28 international satellites from 6 other countries, namely Finland, France, Republic of Korea, the United States, Canada and UK. While the USA has 19 satellites on-board the PSLV-C40, the Republic of Korea has 5 and UK, France, Canada and Finland have 1 each.
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The total weight of the rocket carrying the 31 satellites is 1323 kilograms. The primary Indian satellite aboard the rocket which is the Cartosat-2 Series satellite will serve the purpose of sending images which will later be used for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution and creation of land use maps.
The 28 international passengers that the rocket holds are a result of an arrangement between the foreign bodies and the Antrix Corporation Limited, a subsidiary organisation under ISRO’s command.
The success of this launch is very important to ISRO as the last satellite that was launched before this, the PSLV-C39, was a failure. It was on 31 August 2017 that India’s navigation satellite IRNSS-1H on board PSLV-C39 failed after a technical fault on the final leg following a perfect launch.
India is already geared up for a very busy 2018 with the Chandrayaan-2 mission likely to take place this year and also the preparation for the Mars probe mission Mangalyaan slotted for a launch in 2021.
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