New Delhi - India's satellite launch vehicle PSLV-C9 is set to launch 10 satellites in one go on Monday, officials said. The PSLV-C9 is scheduled to put in orbit the Cartosat-2A remote sensing satellite along with an Indian mini-satellite and eight foreign nano satellites, S Satish, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said.
"The 230-tonne rocket (PSLV-C9) will carry a luggage of 824 kilograms," he said. Cartosat-2A weighs about 690 kilograms an carries a panchromatic camera that can record high-clarity images covering a swathe of 9.6 kilometres.
The remote sensing satellite will provide data that would be used for urban and rural infrastructure management and land information systems, Satish said.
The 83-kilogram Indian Mini Satellite-1 incorporates new technologies and data from it will be shared with other developing nations.
The eight foreign satellites, which together weight a mere 52 kilograms, belong to research institutions in Germany and Canada and are being launched under a commercial arrangement.
The PSLV-C9 is scheduled to take off with the satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre at Sriharikota, ISRO's main launch station off its eastern coast about 90 kilometres north of the city of Chennai.
India, which launched its space programme in 1962, plans an unmanned mission to the moon in the third quarter of 2008.
