ISRO Launches 7 Satellites In 20 Minutes

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C14, launched 958 kg Oceansat-2 and six nano-satellites into a 720 km intended Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO) on 23 September 2009.

Thursday, September 24, 2009: After the untimely loss of its lunar mission Chandrayaan, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has once again proved its capabilities. India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C14, in its 16th mission launched 958 kg Oceansat-2 and six nano-satellites into a 720 km intended Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO) on 23 September 2009. The Oceansat-2 satellite mainframe systems derive their heritage from previous IRS missions and launched by PSLV-C14 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. Oceansat-2 carries three payloads including an Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM-2), Ku-band Pencil Beam scatterometer (SCAT), developed by ISRO; and Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmosphere (ROSA) developed by the Italian Space Agency.

Oceansat-2 is envisaged to provide continuity of operational services of Oceansat-1(IRS-P4) with enhanced application potential. The main objectives of OceanSat-2 are to study surface winds and ocean surface strata, observation of chlorophyll concentrations, monitoring of phytoplankton blooms, study of atmospheric aerosols and suspended sediments in the water.

Apart from Oceansat-2, four CUBESATs and two RUBIN are the foreign satellites launched by PSLV-C14 on 23 September. The four CUBESATs are educational satellites from European universities, each weighing around one kg and developed to perform technology demonstration in space. The satellites are launched inside a Single Picosatellite Launcher (SPL) also weighing one kg, which is a dedicated European launch adaptor to deploy a CubeSat.