CHENNAI: The 50-hour long countdown for Astrosat, India's first dedicated astronomy satellite began this morning at 8am.
The ISRO website says Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) have cleared the 50-hour countdown, which began today.
Astrosat, India's first space observatory, will fly to its orbit 650km from Earth, on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C30) that lifts off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 10am on Monday.
Among its assignments, the 1,153kg Astrosat would look at regions in the universe where stars take birth, and also at black holes.
The main objectives of Astrosat are to understand high-energy processes in binary systems containing neutron stars and black holes; estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars; study star birth regions and high-energy processes in star systems beyond our galaxy; detect briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky; and perform a limited deep-field survey of the universe in the ultraviolet region.
The Monday launch also marks Isro's first commercial launch of four US nano satellites. The Lemur satellites from Spire Global are non-visual remote sensing satellite for maritime vessel tracking.
PSLV-C30 will also carry Lapan-2, a microsatellite from Indonesia and NLS-14, a nanosatellite from Canada, which will also be used for maritime surveillance.
The ISRO website says Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) have cleared the 50-hour countdown, which began today.
Astrosat, India's first space observatory, will fly to its orbit 650km from Earth, on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C30) that lifts off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 10am on Monday.
Among its assignments, the 1,153kg Astrosat would look at regions in the universe where stars take birth, and also at black holes.
The main objectives of Astrosat are to understand high-energy processes in binary systems containing neutron stars and black holes; estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars; study star birth regions and high-energy processes in star systems beyond our galaxy; detect briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky; and perform a limited deep-field survey of the universe in the ultraviolet region.
The Monday launch also marks Isro's first commercial launch of four US nano satellites. The Lemur satellites from Spire Global are non-visual remote sensing satellite for maritime vessel tracking.
PSLV-C30 will also carry Lapan-2, a microsatellite from Indonesia and NLS-14, a nanosatellite from Canada, which will also be used for maritime surveillance.
