India's premier launch vehicle will blast off from the launchpad with the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-06) and eight nano-satellites. India's premier launch vehicle will blast off from Sriharikota. ISRO is launching a total of nine satellites into space. This will be the final PSLV launch of the year for ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to conduct its fifth launch of the year with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The PSLV-C54 mission will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Saturday. This will be the 56th flight of PSLV and 24th flight of the PSLV-XL version.

India's premier launch vehicle will blast off from the launchpad with the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-06) and eight nano-satellites which have a lift-off mass of 321 tonnes. The mission comes on the back of ISRO launching India's first privately-made rocket, Vikram-S by start-up Skyroot Aerospace from the sounding rocket complex earlier this month.

"The Primary satellite (EOS-06) will be separated in Orbit-1. Subsequently, orbit change is planned by using two Orbit Change Thrusters (OCTs) introduced in the Propulsion Bay Ring of the PSLV-C54 Vehicle," ISRO said in a release. The Passenger Payloads (PPLs) will be separated in Orbit-2.

What All Is ISRO Launching With PSLV-C54 Mission?

ISRO is launching a total of nine satellites into space on Saturday, which includes the primary satellite EOS-06 and eight nanosatellites that have been developed by private companies and also jointly by India and Bhutan.

OCEANSAT-3

The Earth Observation Satellite-06 is the third-generation satellite in the Oceansat series and is designed to provide continuity services of Oceansat-2 spacecraft with enhanced payload specifications as well as application areas. The Oceansat-3 is being launched with three major instruments Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM-3), Sea Surface Temperature Monitor (SSTM), Ku-Band Scatterometer (SCAT-3), and ARGOS.

The main objective of the mission is to ensure the data continuity of ocean colour and wind vector data to sustain the operational applications, improve the applications, some additional datasets such as sea surface temperature and more number of bands in the optical region, develop/improve related algorithms and data products to serve in well-established application areas and to enhance the mission utility.

The Oceansat series of satellites are used for earth observation and monitoring water bodies. The first Oceansat was launched in a Polar Sun Synchronous orbit nearly 720 kilometers above Earth in 1999. Oceansat-2 was blasted off onboard the PSLV-C14 mission in 2009.

Joint India-Bhutan Mission

ISRO will launch ISRO Nano Satellite-2 for Bhutan (INS-2B) spacecraft with PSLV-C54 mission. INS-2B will have two payloads, namely NanoMx and APRS-Digipeater. NanoMx is a multispectral optical imaging payload developed by Space Applications Centre (SAC). APRS-Digipeater payload is jointly developed by DITT Bhutan and URSC.

Apart from INS-2B, PSLV-C-54 will also carry Anand, a technology demonstrator nano satellite, which is aimed at demonstrating the capabilities and commercial applications of miniaturized earth-observation cameras. The spacecraft has also been integrated with Astrocast, a 3U spacecraft on a technology demonstration mission for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Meanwhile, Thybolt is also being launched, which is a communication payload to enable rapid technology demonstration and constellation development for multiple users. It also demonstrates Store-and-Forward functionality for authorized users in the amateur frequency band. The satellites will be deployed using Dhruva Space Orbital Deployer to perform the specific mission operations for a minimum lifetime of a year.