PSLV-C49, carrying India's earth observation satellite and 9 others, lifts off from Sriharikota

SRIHARIKOTA: India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C49 carrying the all-weather earth imaging satellite EOS from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) along with nine international satellites was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Saturday afternoon.

The launch was scheduled at 15:02 hours IST today but the mission director authorised the launch of PSLV-C49 at 15:12 hours (3:12 pm) due to bad weather.

The countdown for the launch of the EOS-01 started on 6 November.

The EOS-01 successfully separated from the fourth stage of PSLV-C49 and injected into orbit, the ISRO said.

"India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its 51st mission (PSLV-C49) will launch EOS-01 as primary satellite along with nine international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled at 1502 Hrs IST on November 7, 2020, subject to weather conditions," the space agency said.

On the space activity, ISRO Chief K Sivan said, "This mission is very special and unusual for ISRO. The space activity cannot be done from 'work from home'. Each engineer has to be present at the lab. When talking about missions like these, each technician, employee has to work together."

India's PSLV-C49 has launched EOS-01 as primary satellite along with nine international customer satellites.

What is EOS-01?

EOS-01 is an earth observation satellite intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.

The space agency said that the customer satellites are being launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.

Filling of fuel for the second stage (PS2), fourth stage (PS4) and oxidiser for the fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C49 has been completed, ISRO informed on Twitter.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the launch viewing gallery was closed during the satellite launch, and any gathering of media personnel was not allowed at SDSC.