By IANS,
Chennai : The Indian space agency is expected to launch June 5 its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15), carrying a cartography satellite and a couple of other payloads, according to the US-based space consultancy firm Futron Corp.
But a source in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS that the launch is most likely to happen during the second week of June.
The 44-metre tall PSLV is a four-stage (engine) rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively.
Originally scheduled for launch May 9, the ISRO decided to postpone the flight to a future date as it found “a marginal drop in the pressure in the second stage of the vehicle during mandatory checks”.
At the time of postponement, the rocket was almost ready except for the loading of the satellites that have arrived at the launch centre.
According to ISRO officials, once the rocket is fully assembled and satellites loaded, around 10 days were needed to test the entire systems and sub-systems.
ISRO technicians meanwhile have dismantled the second stage and are carrying out tests and analysis to spot the failed component that needs to be replaced at the Sriharikota rocket launch centre, 80 km from here.
The second stage had to be dismantled as the faulty part is in an inaccessible area after the rocket was assembled fully.
ISRO official said once the faulty part is replaced, all the tests that were carried out earlier have to be done once again.
The main cargo of the rocket is the 690-kg Cartosat-2B satellite, which will carry a sophisticated panchromatic camera on board to take higher (0.8 metre) spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 9.6 km of specific spots for applications such as mapping, land information and geographical information system.
The rocket is also slated to ferry an Algerian Alsat communication satellite and two nano satellites, one each from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico satellite (under one kg) StudSat developed by college students in Bangalore and Hyderabad.