Chennai: The 25-hour countdown for the launch of PSLV-C50 rocket that would ferry communication satellite CMS-01 in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) commenced at 1441 hours on Wednesday.
The rocket will lift off from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at 1541 hours today from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR Range, Sriharikota, about 100 km from here, ISRO said.
The countdown for the ISRO’s second mission of the year, commenced after the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) gave the go-ahead for the mission.
‘Countdown for the launch of PSLV-C50/CMS-01 mission commenced today at 1441 Hrs from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota’, ISRO said in a tweet.
During the countdown, propellant filling operations will be carried out in the 44.4 metre tall, four-stage workhorse launch vehicle of the Indian Space Agency.
About 20 minutes after lift off, the CMS-01 will be injected into the GTO after the ignition and separation of all the four stages.
With a mission life of seven years, CMS-01 is a communication satellite envisaged for providing services in extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum.
The extended-C Band coverage will include Indian mainland, Andaman-Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.
CMS-01 is the 42nd Communication Satellite of India. PSLV-C50 is the 22nd flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration (with six strap-on motors).
This will be the 77th launch mission from the spaceport of Sriharikota and the 52nd Flight of the PSLV.
This will be the second mission for ISRO in 2020 after its launch schedules were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.