ISRO to launch 31 satellites in one go aboard PSLV on Jan. 10 

ISRO to launch 31 satellites in one go aboard PSLV on Jan. 10 

Context

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday said it would launch 31 satellites, including India’s Cartosat-2 series earth observation space craft, in a single mission on January 10

1^st PSLV mission after failure of IRNSS-1H

The mission will be the first ‘Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle’ (PSLV) mission after the unsuccessful launch of the navigation satellite IRNSS-1H in August 2017

Scheduled for January 2018

• The launch is tentatively scheduled for January 10

What would be the payload for the mission?

Cartosat-2 series: The mission’s main payload would be India’s Cartosat-2 series earth observation satellite. The high-profile Mission Readiness Review committee and Launch Authorisation Board is scheduled to meet soon to take the final call.

• PSLV-C40 will be used for the launch from the spaceport in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota, about 100 kilometres from Chennai

A combination of satellites

The mission would be a combination of

• 28 nano satellites from abroad, including Finland and the U.S.
• one micro and one nano satellite from India
• one Cartosat satellite

Backdrop

• On August 31, India’s mission to launch its backup navigation satellite IRNSS-1H on board PSLV-C39 was unsuccessful after a technical snag on the final leg
• In February this year, PSLV-C37 launched the first Cartosat-2 series satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites in a single flight.