Indian Space Organization Gears Up for First Multi-Orbit Mission

New Delhi (Sputnik) – The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will achieve another milestone next week when the PSLV-C35, in its thirty-seventh flight, will launch 8 payloads in two different orbits. This will be ISRO’s first multi-orbit mission. It will be the longest ever PSLV flight which will last for more than 2 hours 15 minutes. The launch will be carried out from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota on September26.

PSLV C 35 will put the 377 kg SCATSAT-1 satellite for ocean and weather related studies and seven co-passenger satellites into polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The co-passenger satellites are from Algeria, Canada and the USA apart from the two satellites from Indian universities.

“SCATSAT-1 will be placed into a 720 km polar sun synchronous orbit whereas; the two universities satellites and the five foreign satellites will be placed into a 670 km polar orbit. This is the first PSLV mission in which it will be launching its payloads into two different orbits,” reads a statement by ISRO.

SCATSAT-1 would provide wind vector data products for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking services to users. The mission life of the satellite is 5 years.