India has launched its Resourcesat-2A imaging satellite on Wednesday morning via its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket. The ISRO launch, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, occurred on schedule at 10:24 India Standard Time (04:54 UTC) from the center’s First Launch Pad.



Indian Launch:

Wednesday’s launch, India’s seventh and final of 2016, caps what was already the country’s busiest year for space launches.

Including Wednesday’s, six of India’s launches this year were made by the workhorse PSLV rocket, with the seventh using the larger Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk.II.

It is the third year in a row that India has increased the frequency of its satellite launches; making four launches in a year for the first time in 2014, and beating this with five in 2015. All six of India’s 2016 launches to date have been successful.

ISRO began 2016 with a salvo of three launches to complete the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), a constellation of geosynchronous navigation satellites. Made by PSLV-XL rockets, these launches took place in January, March and April. A further PSLV-XL launch in June deployed the Cartosat 2C reconnaissance satellite along with a cluster of secondary payloads.

Early September saw the GSLV Mk.II rocket record a third consecutive successful launch, deploying the INSAT-3DR communications satellite. India’s most recent launch, at the end of September, used a PSLV-G rocket to deploy the SCATSAT-1 ocean research satellite and seven small satellites.

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The payload for Wednesday’s launch was Resourcesat-2A.

A replacement for the five-and-a-half-year-old Resourcesat-2, this is a 1,235-kilogram (2,723 lb) remote sensing satellite that is expected to provide data to help monitor natural resources. Designed for a five-year mission, the spacecraft will operate in a circular sun-synchronous orbit, 817 kilometers (508 miles, 441 nautical miles) above the Earth at an inclination of 98.718 degrees, completing one revolution every 101 minutes and 21 seconds.

The Resourcesat spacecraft, along with the Cartosat and Oceansat programs, are the successors to ISRO’s Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) series of satellites which began launching in 1988. The first two satellites, IRS-1A and 1B, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soviet Vostok-2M rockets making the antepenultimate and final flights of the Vostok series.

A third satellite, IRS-1E or P1, was constructed from an engineering model built alongside the original satellites and intended as a relatively low-risk payload for the PSLV’s maiden flight in September 1993. IRS-1E was lost when the PSLV failed to achieve orbit.

The IRS-P2 satellite, launched successfully on the PSLV’s second mission, in October 1994, as a demonstrator ahead of a second-generation pair of satellites. These – IRS-1C and 1D – were launched in 1995 and 1997, the former aboard a Russian Molniya-M/2BL and the latter atop India’s own PSLV. During the IRS-1D launch the PSLV’s fourth stage underperformed, leaving the satellite in a lower-than-planned orbit.

Another experimental IRS satellite, IRS-P3, was launched by a PSLV in March 1996. The IRS-P4, P5 and P6 satellites, launched by PSLVs in May 1999, May 2005 and October 2003 respectively, began the Oceansat, Cartosat and Resourcesat series of spacecraft.

Resourcesat was the direct successor to the primary IRS satellites. Despite being designed for a five-year mission, it remains operational after thirteen years in orbit alongside its replacement, Resourcesat-2, which was deployed in April 2011.

Resourcesat-2A has been built to similar specifications as Resourcesat-2, and carries the same instrumentation as both Resourcesat-2 and Resourcesat-1 before it.

The primary imaging payload is the Linear Imaging Self Scanner 4 (LISS-4), a high-resolution visible and near-infrared camera with a resolution of 5.8 meters (19 feet).

A medium-resolution instrument, LISS-3, will produce images at a resolution of 23.5 meters (77.1 feet) while the lower-resolution Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) can image a 740-kilometre (460-mile) swath at resolutions of up to 56 meters (184 feet). The swath width for LISS-4 is 70 kilometers (43 miles), while for LISS-3 it is 141 kilometers (87.6 miles).

All three cameras can operate in multiple spectral bands; all three can capture green, red and near-infrared light, at wavelengths of 0.52-0.59 nanometres, 0.62-0.68 nanometres, and 0.77-0.86 nanometers respectively. LISS-3 and AWiFS have an additional short-wave infrared band, at 1.55-1.70 nanometres.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was used to place Resourcesat-2A into orbit. The rocket used for Wednesday’s launch flew in the PSLV-XL configuration, and had flight number C36.

It was the thirty-eighth PSLV launch since the rocket was introduced in 1993; thirty-five of its previous launches have been successful; its maiden flight failed and another early launch – with the IRS-1D satellite, a predecessor of the Resourcesat series – was a partial failure due to upper stage underperformance. Since the IRS-1D launch the PSLV has achieved thirty-three consecutive successful launches in nineteen years.

PSLV C36 launched from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) on Sriharikota, an island on India’s east coast about 70 kilometers (40 miles) north of Chennai.

Formerly known as the Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR), the facility was renamed in 2002 following the death of former ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan. All of India’s orbital launches have been made from the site.

The First Launch Pad was constructed ahead of the PSLV’s début launch in 1993, replacing the launch pads to the south which had been used for the earlier Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV).

Both the First Launch Pad, and the nearby Second Launch Pad, can accommodate the PSLV and the larger Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), although since the second pad became operational in 2005, it has been used for all GSLV launches; with the PSLV continuing to use both pads. At the First Launch Pad, rockets are integrated at the launch pad within a mobile service tower; in contrast to the Second Launch Pad where assembly takes place in a separate integration building with the rocket being transported vertically to the pad for final preparations.

PSLV is a four-stage rocket, using a mixture of solid and liquid-fuelled stages. The first and third stages use solid propellant, as do the six strap-on boosters which augment the first stage as the rocket climbs through the lower regions of Earth’s atmosphere, while the second and fourth stages are liquid-fuelled.

The first stage, or PS1, uses an S-138 motor. The six boosters which provide additional thrust during the early stages of flight are PS0M-XL rockets, powered by S-12 motors. The PSLV-XL uses PS0M-XL boosters in placed of standard PS0M motors used on the rocket’s standard, or PSLV-G, configuration.

First stage ignition occurred at the zero mark in the countdown. Four of the strap-on motors are ground-lit, igniting in pairs 0.42 and 0.62 seconds after the first stage, while the final pair are air-lit. These are started twenty-five seconds after liftoff.

The ground-lit solids were jettisoned at the end of their burn; with the first pair separating 69.9 seconds after liftoff and the second pair following two tenths of a second later. The air-lit motors separated 92 seconds into the flight.

Burnout and separation of the first stage occurred one minute and 50.48 seconds after liftoff. Two tenths of a second later the second stage’s Vikas engine ignited, beginning an approximately two-minute, 30-second burn.

Vikas burns a mixture of hydrazine hydrate and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) – designated UH25 – oxidized by dinitrogen tetroxide. It is a license-built version of the Viking engine that was used by Europe’s Ariane family of rockets prior to the introduction of the modern Ariane 5.

Forty seconds into the second stage’s burn, the payload fairing separated from around Resourcesat-2A at the nose of the rocket. At this point the vehicle was at an altitude of around 126 kilometers (78 miles, 68 nautical miles) and the fairing was no longer be needed to protect the satellite from Earth’s atmosphere.

Two minutes and 31.28 seconds after the second stage ignites, it shut down its engine and separated. The third stage – or PS3 – ignited its S-7 motor 1.2 seconds after stage separation, burning for around 70 seconds.

Once the third stage burned out, the vehicle coasted towards the apogee of its trajectory. The spent third stage remained attached during this coast, separating at eight minutes, 41.72 seconds mission elapsed time. The fourth stage, PS4, ignited ten seconds later.

The PS4 uses monomethylhydrazine (MMH) propellant, oxidized by mixed oxides of nitrogen (MON). It burned for eight minutes and 16.54 to establish a circular deployment orbit at an altitude of 827 kilometers (514 miles, 447 nautical miles) and an inclination of 98.719 degrees; slightly above what will become the satellite’s operational orbit. Forty-seven seconds after the end of the fourth stage burn, Resourcesat-2A separated from the PSLV.

The launch of Resourcesat-2A concluded India’s scheduled launches for 2016. ISRO’s next launches are scheduled for January; with 18 January a possible date for the first orbital launch of the new Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.III. A PSLV launch with the Cartosat-2D imaging satellite is also scheduled for the start of the year.

(Images via ISRO). </s> It will carry similar payloads as carried by its predecessors Resourcesat-1 and Resourcesat-2. The 36-hour countdown of the satellite launch started at 10.25 p.m. on Monday.

Sriharikota: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its PSLV C36 Resource Sat-2A today at 10.25 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The satellite is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users. It will carry similar payloads as carried by its predecessors Resourcesat-1 and Resourcesat-2. The 36-hour countdown of the satellite launch started at 10.25 p.m. on Monday.

The PSLV C36 is the 38th flight of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It will place the 1235 kilogram Resourcesat-2A into an 817 kilometer polar Sun Synchronous Orbit PSLV which has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO has offered for launching satellites for international customers.

Between 1994 and 2016, the PSLV has launched a total of 121 satellites, of which 79 satellites are from abroad and 42 are Indian satellites. </s> The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is launching the 40th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C38) on Friday, June 23, at around 9:30 am IST. The 28-hour countdown for the launch began on Thursday morning.

The launch takes place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, an island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

The PSLV carries "the 712-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 243 kg at lift-off into a 505-km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO)," according to an official statement from Isro. The total weight of all these satellites is said to be around 955 kg.

The 30 co-passenger satellites include only one from India, while the rest are from Austria, Belgium, Chile, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

They are being launched "as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), a Government of India company under Department of Space (DOS) and the commercial arm of Isro and the International customers."

Live streaming of the launch will be carried out on Doordarshan. The transmission begins at 9 am IST on Friday.

You can also watch it online. Click HERE to watch the entire event live.

In case you cannot watch the event, here are LIVE updates of the entire launch, including the procedures leading up to it:

9 am IST: The PSLV, which made its first flight in 1993, now has a four-stage launch procedure. In two of these stages it will use solid fuel, and liguid fuel will be used in the two others.

8:30 am IST: The launch will be special for students of the Noorul Islam University in Kumarakovil. The NIUSAT they have built is the sole Indian micro-satellite being launched aboard PSLV-C38. Read all about it!

8 am IST: The PSLV stands 44.4 m tall, and has a liftoff mass of around 320 ton. It is a four-stage rocket.

The Cartosat, meanwhile, is an earth-imaging satellite that will help India monitor its own territory and environment better.

7:30 am IST: The launch is still about a couple of hours away, but according to Isro, the propellant-filling operations of the Second Stage (PS2) of the PSLV are completed. "Countdown is progressing normally," says the space agency. </s> The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday successfully launched the 712 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation along with 30 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 243 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit with its rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C38). The satellite mission was launched from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The mission assumed significance for Tamil Nadu as it carried a satellite indigenously developed by students of a university in Kanyakumari district. Developed by Noorul Islam University, the NIUSAT satellite is designed to provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications.

Below are the LIVE UPDATES:

10.10 am: PSLV-C38 successfully puts Cartosat-2 Series and 30 other satellites into orbit, says ISRO

10.00 am: All 31 satellites have been successfully separated: ISRO

9.43 am: According to ISRO, the performance of PSLV-C38 has been normal so far.

9.29 am: PSLV-C38, carrying 31 satellites, has been launched.

9.24 am: This will be the 40th flight of PSLV and 17th flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors). PSLV-C38 will carry satellites weighing a total of about 955 kg.

9.22 am: Cartosat-2, the primary satellite which would be launched, is a remote sensing satellite that is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App </s> In its first multi-orbital launch, India's workhorse PSLV will on Monday inject eight different satellites, including the country's weather satellite SCATSAT-1 and five from other nations, into two different orbits.

India's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C35, which will be launched from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota at 9.12 am on Monday, will carry the 371 kg SCATSAT-1 for ocean and weather related studies along with seven other satellites, including from the US and Canada.

The total weight of all the eight satellites onboard PSLV C35 is about 675 kg.

PSLV C-35 will be putting the satellites in two different orbits, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman AS Kiran Kumar said.

While SCATSAT-1 will be released first into a 730 km Polar Sunsynchronous Orbit after about 17 minutes, the rest will be injected into a lower orbit of 689 km after around two hours.

There will be two re-ignitions of the launch vehicle for this purpose, Kumar said.

Besides SCATSAT-1, the others are PRATHAM and PISAT, two academic satellites from India, ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B and ALSAT-1N (all from Algeria) and Pathfinder-1 and NLS-19, from USA and Canada, respectively.

The 48-and-a-half-hour countdown for PSLV-C35/SCATSAT-1 Mission started at 8:42am on Saturday.

According to ISRO, this is the first mission of PSLV in which it will be launching its payloads into two different orbits.

This will be the 15th flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration with the use of solid strap-on motors, it added.

The mission objectives of SCATSAT-1 are to help provide weather forecasting services to the user communities through the generation of wind vector products for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking, ISRO said.

SCATSAT-1 is a continuity mission for scatterometer payload carried by the earlier Oceansat-2 satellite, ISRO added. </s> Remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2A was launched from Sriharikota at 10.24 a.m. on Wednesday. It was the only passenger flown aboard the PSLV-C36 rocket.

“It was a perfect launch,” declared A.S. Kiran Kumar, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, after confirmation came 18 minutes later that the satellite had been deployed at 824 km from Earth.

“We have put one more operational [Earth observation] satellite in orbit,” he said in an address from the launch complex, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The 1,235-kg spacecraft now orbits in a pole-to-pole sun-synchronous path close to the intended position, inclined 98.7 degrees to the equator. The orbit will be adjusted slightly in the coming days by the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bengaluru.

Resourcesat-2A is a follow-on to two predecessor spacecraft for the observation of Earth from space. For at least the next five years, it ensures continuous three-tier remote-sensing data. Resourcesat-1 was put in space in October 2003 and Resourcesat-2 in April 2011, each with a planned life of five years.

The first images are expected from December 15. Once its orbit is stabilised and it is paired with Resourcesat-2, the new spacecraft will start giving improved and more frequent data, said satellite director S.K. Nagesh.

The satellite’s three cameras of different resolutions will soon start giving regular micro and macro information about the land and waterbodies below, farmlands, their crop area and production estimation, forests, soil mapping, drought, mineral deposits, and rural and urban spreads, besides guiding in disaster management, ISRO said.

According to an ISRO official, the AWiFS (Advanced Wide Field Sensor) provides images of 56-metre resolution, which would be useful at the State level. The LISS-3 (Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor) of 23.5-metre resolution can take pictures at the district level, while LISS-4 (5.6 metres) can provide taluk-level information.

In 2016, nine missions have taken off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, including the more powerful GSLV, said launch centre director P. Kunhikrishnan.

For the light-lifting PSLV, it was the 37th straight successful flight. It was configured in the extended XL version that has six small strap-on motors. ISRO’s old reliable vehicle has now launched 122 spacecraft since 1994, of which 43 are Indian. </s> In yet another masterful demonstration of its space prowess, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday successfully launched its workhorse rocket PSLV-C38 from Sriharikota carrying the Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation along with 30 co-passenger satellites. Weighing 712 kg, Cartosat-2 series satellite has been specifically designed for the benefit of the defence forces.

The latest launch comes two weeks after the space agency scripted history by blasting off the GSAT-19 satellite, one of the heaviest communication satellites, with the GSLV Mark III-D1 rocket. The rocket became the heaviest to be launched by ISRO ever, with the heaviest single payload put in orbit as well.

This was the 40th flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and 17th flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors). The co-passenger satellites comprised 29 Nano satellites from 14 countries – Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America in addition to a Nano satellite from India. The total weight of all the satellites carried on-board the PSLV-C38 is about 955 kg.

Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite that is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery. With the launch of a third spacecraft in Cartosat-2 series, India’s ‘eye in the sky’ is on course to become sharper and wider. According to ISRO sources, the images captured by the previous satellite in the series on India’s neighbourhood had helped New Delhi carry out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control last year.

Reflecting on the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was proud of the space agency’s achievement. “Congratulations to ISRO on its 40th successful Polar satellite launch carrying 31 satellites from 15 countries. You make us proud!,” PM Modi tweeted.

The satellite mission was launched from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The mission assumed significance for Tamil Nadu as it carried a satellite indigenously developed by students of a university in Kanyakumari district. Developed by Noorul Islam University, the NIUSAT satellite has been created to provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications.

ISRO launched 29 international customer Nano satellites as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), commercial arm of ISRO and international customers. On Thursday, a 28-hour countdown for the launch was started at 5.29 am.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App </s> ISRO has started the countdown for the launch of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which will take the Cartosat-2 series satellite as well as 30 co-passenger satellites to space from Sriharikota tomorrow. Following the launch its most powerful indigenous rocket GSLV Mk III on earlier this month, ISRO is all set to launch the Cartosat-2 series which will be carried by PSLV-C38 tomorrow at 0929 hours, the countdown for which started today at 0529 hours. The co-passenger satellites, consist of 29 Nanosatellites from 14 other countries. This will be the 40th flight of PSLV, and this launch is a part of the deal between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), the commercial arm of ISRO and customers all over the globe. Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite and it is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series. Here are all the things you need to know about the satellite launch.

What is the Cartosat-2 series satellite? Cartosat-2 Series Satellite is the main satellite which the PSLV-C38 will carry. It is a remote sensing satellite and its configuration is similar to other satellites in the series. The series was created with the intention of high-resolution spot imagery for particular scenes. The Cartosat-2 Series Satellite, one other Indian satellite, and 29 co-passenger satellites from around the world are in the lineup to be launched into an altitude of 505 km. This satellite series is basically an earth observation satellite which can provide high-res images that provide data in different types of scales. The Cartosat-2 Series satellite is 6th in the series and is known as Cartosat- 2E. The satellite weighs around 714 kg and is operated and maintained by ISRO.

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When is the launch? Which other satellites will go in the PSLV? The Cartosat 2E satellite has been scheduled to be launched tomorrow at 9:20 am and along with it, will go 30 co-passenger satellite. The other nano satellites together weigh around 243kg and will lift off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The PSLV rocket will then sling the satellites into a 505 km polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO). This will be PSLV’s 40th flight launching a total of 955 kg satellite. The other 30 mini satellites along with Cartosat 2 comprise 29 Nanosatellites from 14 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America besides a Nanosatellite from India.

Also read | ISRO starts working with NASA on a common satellite for 2021 launch: What is the purpose of the joint mission

What is the use of Cartosat-2E? How will it help India? Cartosat-2E has been built especially with a panchromatic camera which will be able to take black and white pictures of the planet in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The images taken from the satellite will be useful for rural and urban spot applications, to identify coastal land use and regulations. The pictures taken will also help monitor the road network and water distribution, the creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features and various other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications. Earlier, India had to purchase pictures worth about Rs 2 crores in a year from Ikonos which is multispectral and offered pictures of lower resolution. Meanwhile, Cartosat 2 series comes with better features and provides better resolution.

How long do these satellites go back in history? The Cartosat is similar to the 4 satellites of the Cartosat-2 series that has been launched in the past. The first one in the series was launched by PSLV-C7 in the year 2007 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre’s FLP at Sriharikota. Then, Cartosat-2A was launched by PSLV-C9 in 2008. It was dedicated to the Indian Armey to establish an Aerospace Command. Following this, satellite Cartosat 2B was launched by PSLV-C15 in the year 2010. Meanwhile, recently the Cartosat 2C, with a special potential to record weather mapping, was taken off on June 22, last year. Meanwhile, in 2017, Cartosat-2D was launched by PSLV-C37 which took with it over 100 satellites. </s> Preparations for the launch of GSAT- 9, the South Asia Communication Satellite that will boost connectivity among nations in the region, were “going on smoothly,” ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said here on Thursday.

The Geostationary Communication Satellite built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100 kms from here.

Seven out of the eight SAARC countries are a part of the project, as Pakistan decided to opt out stating “it has its own space programme.”

The satellite will be launched on board the space agency's rocket GSLV-F09. Costing around Rs 235 crore, the satellite would serve the neighbouring countries through 12 Ku band transponders carried by it and has a mission life of 12 years.

The satellite is meant for providing communication and disaster support, connectivity among the countries of South Asia region.

It will provide a significant capability to each of the participating countries in terms of DTH, certain VSAT capacity plus linking among the states for disaster information transfer.

“We have the launch tomorrow at 4.57 PM in the evening... All activities are going on smoothly,” Kumar told reporters at the airport here.

After coming to power in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked ISRO scientists to develop a SAARC satellite that can be dedicated to neighbouring countries as a “gift from India.”

On his 'Mann ki baat' programme on Sunday last, Modi had announced that the South Asia Satellite would be India's “priceless gift” to its neighbouring countries.

“On May 5, India will launch the South Asia Satellite. The benefits of this satellite will go a long way in meeting the developmental needs of the countries participating in this project,” Modi had said.

On future launches, the ISRO Chairman said, the space agency would launch the GSLV MK III variant which would be followed by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the coming months.

To a query on major launches, Kumar said, “ISRO would launch Chandrayaan-II in the beginning of next year.”

Tomorrow's launch will be the fourth consecutive flight of GSLV-F09 rocket with the indigenous Cryogenic engine powering the upper stage.

The previous launch of communication satellite GSAT-8 was on May 21, 2011 from Kourou, French Guiana.
India has launched its Resourcesat-2A imaging satellite via its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.