Sriharikota, March 28: Growing its space-based assets, India will launch an electronic intelligence satellite ‘EMISAT’ for the Defence Development and Research Organisation (DRDO) on April 1. The Indian space agency will launch the EMISAT satellite along with 28 third party (foreign) satellites at 9.30 am on April 1. Reports inform that this is for the first time that ISRO will also demonstrate its new technologies like three different orbits with a new variant of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket. This will be PSLV’s 47th mission to the space. ISRO Successfully Launches India’s Heaviest and Most Powerful Satellite GSAT-11 From French Guiana; All You Need to Know. 

The 28 other satellites for international customers include those for the USA and Spain. The ISRO will launch the satellites on April 1 from the spaceport of Sriharikota, over 100 km north of Chennai. The space agency futher added saying that the launch would be subject to weather conditions.

The 436-kg EMISAT and other satellites would be launched from onboard the space agency's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-45, ISRO said in a statement. In January 2019, the space agency launched a defence imaging satellite Microsat R for the DRDO. Kumbh Mela 2019 Pictures From Space: ISRO Releases Pictures of Prayagraj Taken Through Satellite Cartosat2. 

All You Need to Know About the Electronic Intelligence Satellite-EMISAT:

  1. The EMISAT weighs about 436 kg and is based on ISRO's Indian Mini Satellite-2 (IMS-2) bus platform.The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement.
  2. Reports inform that the whole flight sequence will take about 180 minutes from the rocket's lift-off slated at 9:30 am on April 1, 2019.
  3. ISRO had earlier scheduled the launch for March 21 but had been deferred to April 1.
  4. ISRO informed that the 28 international customer satellites were from Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland and USA and being launched under commercial arrangements.
  5. The PS4 orbital platform is aimed to provide a micro-gravity environment for research organisations and academic institutes to perform experiments.

In its tweet, ISRO on March 28 tweeted saying that the PSLV C-45 has moved to the 'umbilical tower' at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. “Electrical checks are on now ahead of scheduled launch with #EMISAT & 28 foreign satellites on board, on April 1 at 09:30 am”, ISRO tweeted. According to reports, the new variant of the PSLV rocket will first put the 436 kg Emisat into a 749 km orbit and then will brought down to put the 28 satellites into orbit.

Take a Look at ISRO's Latest Update About the Mission:

The PS4 orbital platform is believed to provide a microgravity environment for research organisations and academic institutes to perform experiments. According to ISRO, The PS4 will host three payloads in this mission. The three payloads include- Automatic Identification System (AIS) from ISRO, Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), India and Advanced Retarding Potential Analyzer for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS) from Indian Institute of Space Science and technology (IIST).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 28, 2019 01:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).