NEW DELHI – India will launch 31 satellites, including earth observationspacecraft Cartosat, on January 12 instead of its earlier tentativeschedule on January 10, a space official said on Monday.
“The rocket launch to carry Cartosat and other satellites, including 28from the US and five other countries, will take place on January 12 at9.30am,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Public RelationsDirector Devi Prasad Karnik told IANS here.
“There is no delay in the schedule as the earlier stated launch date ofJanuary 10 was merely tentative,” stated Karnik.
The rocket launch would take place from ISRO’s spaceport located atSriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The first space mission in 2018 on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV-C40) comes four months after a similar rocket failed to deliver thecountry’s eighth navigation satellite in the earth’s lower orbit on August31.
The mission’s payload will also include one each nano and micro satellitefrom India, besides Cartosat-2.
As an observational satellite, Cartosat will beam high-quality images forcartographic, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulationand utility management like road network monitoring.