ISRO completes launch rehearsal of PSLV-C51 mission, two satellites drop out

 The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday completed the launch rehearsal of the PSLV-C51 mission slated for February 28. India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51) is scheduled to launch Brazil's Amazonia-1 as primary satellite and 18 co-passenger satellites from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota, about 100 km from Chennai, at 10.24 am on Sunday. The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency had announced on February 5 that there would be 20 co-passenger satellites.

Indian Space start-up Pixxel announced two days ago that due to "certain software issues" its first satellite 'Anand' would no longer be part of the payload onboard the PSLV-C51 rocket.

And on Thursday ISRO confirmed that its nanosatellite INS-2DT will also be not part of the mission.

"INS-2TD also faced some technical issues and could not make it to this flight, PSLV-C51," Chairman and Managing Director of ISRO's commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) G Narayanan told PTI.

PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 mission is the first dedicated PSLV commercial mission for NSIL, which is undertaking it under a commercial arrangement with Seattle, US-based satellite rideshare and mission management provider, Spaceflight Inc.PSLV-C51 will use 'DL' variant of PSLV equipped with two solid strap-on boosters, according to ISRO.

The 637-kg Amazonia-1 is an optical earth observation satellite. The 18 co-passenger satellites are four from IN- SPACe (three UNITYsats from a consortium of three Indian academic institutes and one Satish Dhawan Sat from Space Kidz India) and 14 from NSIL.

IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) is an independent nodal agency under the Department of Space (DoS) for allowing space activities and usage of DoS-owned facilities by NGPEs (Non-Government- Private-Entities) as well as to prioritize the launch manifest.