ISRO to launch India's HysIS satellite with 30 foreign satellites on Nov 29

 ISRO is all set to launch its workhorse rocket PSLV-C43 carrying India’s earth observation satellite HysIS and 30 co-passenger satellites, including 23 from the US, from Sriharikota on November 29.

The space agency said the 45th flight of PSLV will be launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

“HysIS is an earth observation satellite developed by ISRO. It is the primary satellite of the PSLV-C43 mission.

The satellite will be placed in 636 km polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO) with an inclination of 97.957 deg. The mission life of the satellite is 5 years,” ISRO said.

According to the space agency, the primary goal of HysIS is to study the earth’s surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The new satellite has evolved from merely capturing outlines of the countries and detecting weather, but this Hyperspectral imaging allows satellites to precisely recognise objects from outer space. 

The co-passengers of HysIS include one Micro and 29 Nano satellites from eight different countries, the agency said, adding, all these satellites will be placed in a 504 km orbit by PSLV-C43.

The countries comprise United States of America (23 satellites), Australia, Canada, Columbia, Finland, Malaysia, Netherlands and Spain (one satellite each).

These satellites have been commercially contracted for launch through Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO, the space agency said.

PSLV is ISRO’s third generation launch vehicle. It can carry upto 1,750 kg of payload into polar SSO of 600 km altitude.

Additionally, PSLV has been used to launch planetary missions and also satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, ISRO said.

ISRO on November 14, launched the GSLV Mark III rocket carrying the GSAT-29 communication satellite at 5:08 pm (IST) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota 

Marking ISRO's fifth launch for the current year, the communication satellite carries high throughput communication transponders in the Ka and Ku bands which can expand high-speed data transfer in the remote areas of India.

The satellite launch is the second test flight for the GSLV Mark III rocket, which is also ISRO's heaviest rocket. The rocket is capable of introducing four-tonne class satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit.

With an operational life of over ten years, the satellite weighs 3,423 kg during lift-off

(Inputs from PTI)