Article Posted on : - Jun 22, 2014

NEW DELHI (PTI): Five foreign satellites will be launched by India under commercial agreements on June 30, space agency ISRO has said.

The indigenous PSLV-C23 rocket will carry a 714 kg French Earth Observation Satellite 'SPOT-7' as the main payload. It will also carry 14 kg AISAT of Germany, the NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) and NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) satellites of Canada, each weighing 15 kgs, and the 7 kg VELOX-1 of Singapore, it said.

These five satellites will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota under commercial arrangements that ANTRIX, the marketing arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has entered into with the respective foreign agencies.

"All the five satellites have been integrated with PSLV-C23 and the final phase of checks is progressing. The Mission Readiness Review (MRR) Committee and the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) are meeting on June 27 to review the progress of pre-launch activities.

"After the clearance from LAB, the 49-hour countdown for the mission will commence at 08:49 AM on June 28," ISRO spokesperson B R Guruprasad said.