ISRO TO PERFORM KEY MANEUVER ON MARS ORBITER NEXT YEAR

       With the Mars Orbiter Mission completing two years, ISRO on Sunday said it will be doing a “major event” of effecting a manoeuvre on the Orbiter next year to reduce the impact of an “eclipse duration” to allow the spacecraft “survive” for more time.

ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar said the MOM had completed two years on Saturday, although its original mission life was slated to be six months, and that the space agency had released a lot of first year data beamed by its five payloads.

“Our next major event in the Mars Orbiter will be sometime in the beginning of next year when we will be doing a manoeuvre to reduce the impact of the eclipse duration the satellite is going to encounter,” he told reporters here.

He said during an eclipse the battery in the satellite has to support its operation and if the eclipse duration is “very long” then the battery may not be able to support it.

“So we intend to do a manoeuvre of the spacecraft so that the impact of eclipse duration will reduce and with that we will be able to survive for many more years because the satellite still has large (amount of) fuel left in it,” he added.

The MOM, also called Mangalyaan, was successfully launched on November 5, 2013 by ISRO’s PSLV-C25 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. After a 300-day journey in deep space, it was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014.

ANTRIX LAUNCH ORDERS BOOKED UNTIL MID 2018

                                                                                                                                           ISRO Celebrates Successful, Landmark Mission

NEW MILESTONE:

                 Scripting history, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO)  on Monday successfully launched eight satellites into two different orbits through single flight PSLV-C35 rocket mission in its maiden attempt. ISRO most trusted workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 37th flight (PSLV-C35), carried and placed the 377 kg SCATSAT-1 and seven co-passenger satellites into polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

New Orders

Expanding its commercial operations, ISRO has bagged orders to launch various satellites to the tune of more than Rs 250 crore. “Our order book size for launching various foreign satellites is about Rs 280 crore,” Antrix Corporation CMD S Rakesh said on Monday. He said it would take more than two years to complete the current orders for launching satellites. 

The Antrix Corporation is the commercial arm of ISRO. Stating that the company is looking at consolidating the performance and achievements of ISRO, he said the company closed last fiscal with a turnover of Rs 1,923 crore and is expected to close the current fiscal with a revenue of around Rs 2,000 crore.

“Discussions are on for getting more orders,” he added. ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar said authorities were in discussions with others for contract manufacturing of meteorological satellites. According to him, Indian meteorological satellites have excellent capabilities.

CHINA EYES INDIA'S NUCLEAR PROJECTS

The Chinese interest in the atomic power projects in India has come at a time when New Delhi is trying to persuade Beijing to stop opposing its bid to enter the NSG. PTI file photo

China has evinced interest in taking part in the atomic power projects in India, even as it continues to block New Delhi’s bid to get a berth in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). “Chinese companies have rich experience and safe technology in nuclear energy, and would like to take part in India’s civil nuclear energy projects,” Liu Jinsong, China’s acting ambassador to India, said.

His comment came ahead of the China-India Strategic Economic Dialogue, which is likely to be held early next month and will give both sides an opportunity to explore the possibility of bilateral civil nuclear cooperation.

The Chinese interest in the atomic power projects in India has come at a time when New Delhi is trying to persuade Beijing to stop opposing its bid to enter the NSG. “China understands India’s wish to develop clean energy, including nuclear energy, to adapt to climate change and contribute to global emission reduction,” said Liu, speaking at the Energy Research Centre of the Jawaharlal Nehru University recently.

On June 12, DH had reported that New Delhi has indicated its willingness to start discussions with Beijing on the possibility of an inter-governmental agreement, which would provide a framework for India-China cooperation in the nuclear energy sector.

China’s nuclear industry is expanding and has started going international with projects in the UK, Romania and Argentina. China has also been building nuclear reactors in Pakistan.

India’s “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” to global effort to mitigate climate change would require it to generate 40% power without using fossil fuel by 2030. The Centre has a target to raise installed capacity for nuclear power generation from 5,780 MWe to 63 GWe by 2032.

New Delhi conveyed to Beijing that India’s membership of the NSG would enable it to take part in the process to frame rules for international nuclear trade and would thus provide for “a predictable global environment”, which would help it implement its plan to substantially raise atomic power generation, sources told DH.

A meeting between the top diplomats of the two countries in New Delhi a fortnight back failed to make any breakthrough as China stuck to its stand that the 48-nation NSG, which controls global nuclear commerce, should admit India only when it opened up its door for future entry of Pakistan and other countries which too did not sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Russia is already building reactors in India, while the US and French companies are negotiating commercial agreements with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. Canada has started supplying uranium to India and Australia will follow soon.

AFTER INDIAN SUCCESS, FRANCE TARGETS MALAYSIA FOR RAFALE JET SALES

Fresh from signing a contract to supply 36 Dassault Rafale jets to India, France is looking at Malaysia as the next possible buyer of its multi-role fighter.

Malaysia and Canada have competitions to acquire new fighter aircraft in which Dassault is a bidder but Dassault CEO Eric Trappier is more optimistic on the Asian country. Talking about the chances of the Rafale in future competitions where it would up against the American fighter jets such as the F-16 and F/A-18 Super Hornet, Trappier was quoted as saying by a French publication, Challenges, “we are not like America, we have to build a good plane.”

Reading between the lines of Trappier’s statement, is an admission of American political pressure for countries to buy its aircraft and that for the French to compete in such an environment their aircraft has to be better than the competition.

The Malaysian procurement is considered a good opportunity by Boeing which manufactures the F/A-18. Malaysia is retiring older versions of F/A-18s in service with its Air Force. Saab which has sold its Gripen fighters to Thailand is also considered a good bet especially when it beat the French in the deal to sell jets to Brazil.

Regarding Canada, which re-opened the competition after public pressure to reject the super-expensive F-35, the French are not so optimistic given ‘American pressure’ on its northern neighbor. Canada has invited Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Dassault to bid for its fighter acquisition program.

But many industry pundits expect the ultimate winner to be an American plane.

However, the Indian contract would give an advantage to Dassault like none other. A French diplomat was quoted as saying in a French publication, Le Maghreb, "the Indians are downright formidable as negotiators," meaning that the aircraft and the terms of purchase are the only issues that mattered in the negotiations. Unlike in many other defense deals all around the world where bilateral relations and political groups (NATO countries buying only from fellow NATO countries) matter more than the technical merits of the equipment.

DCNS LIKELY TO LOSE ADDITIONAL ORDER OF THREE SUBMARINES FOR INDIAN P-75 PROJECT

                                                                                                                                     INS Kalvari Submarine

French DCNS is likely to lose an order to build three additional submarines apart from the existing order of six already being built at Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) as part of the P-75 project due to last month’s Scorpene document leak.

Thus, the Scorpene strength with the Indian Navy — as per the original Project-75 program — might remain only at six. The Mumbai-based MDL, which is constructing the boats under a Transfer of Technology (ToT) from France, is expected to release all the boats to the Indian Navy by 2020, Asian Age reported Monday.

The first Scorpene, the INS Kalvari, began ‘sea trials’ in May this year while the second, INS Khanderi, is being prepared to be launched by the MDL later this year. However, the leak will not affect DCNS’s prospects for the recent Rs 60,000 crore (US $9 billion) plus Project-75 India program (P-75I), where foreign shipbuilders will build six more conventional submarines in India itself in partnership with an Indian shipyard.

France is again offering the Scorpene, along with several other contenders that include Russia (Amur submarines), Sweden (Gotland), Japan (Soryu), Germany (HDW Type 214) and Spain (Navantia S-80). “The number of Scorpene boats under the P-75 will remain only six now owing to the scare generated by the leak,” said a senior defense official, privy to the developments.

As regards the seriousness of the leak itself, Navy officers are not worried after many serving and retired submariners who reviewed the leaked documents for The Asian Age, characterised the performance characteristics published in The Australian as “generic”, which are already available on the internet.

The papers carried information on the submarines’ intelligence gathering frequencies, Sonar, sound and acoustic characteristics, magnetic/electromagnetic behaviour and weapons data etc. Officers explained that the physical traits undergo changes over time and are subject to upgradation during ‘refits’ and ‘Mid-Life Upgrades’ (MLUG).

“We are constructing the boats in India itself, unlike Chile or Australia, which are buying them off the shelf from the French. This offers us scope to tweak those systems. The first submarine, Kalvari, hasn’t even been inducted yet while the rest will be released to the Indian Navy at the rate of one per year by 2020. So each of them is a full decade and a half away from reaching the MLUG and refit stage,” the news daily quoted a Captain-rank officer from the submarine arm.

Another officer pointed out that the documents published in The Australian date back to even before the contract between India and France was signed in 2005.

Submariners also explained that technical aspects such as stealth features, noise levels, magnetic/electromagnetic data are something that undergo change over time. “A submarine’s noise is a result of its on-board machinery and propeller configurations. They are different at different speeds, depths, seawater and saline conditions. They are so distinct that even the acoustic signatures for two vessels of the same class are not the same,” said another submarine officer.

Commodore PR Franklin (Retd), a former submariner, who has authored a book chronicling the history of the Soviet-origin ‘Foxtrot’ class submarines, titled ‘Foxtrots of the Indian Navy’, concurs with these views.

“We have tropical waters unlike the waters in the temperate and higher latitudes for which, the French, German, US and British submarines are built. The performance deteriorates drastically when they operate in warmer and more saline waters. Published figures and actual performance figures therefore vary seasonally too. Hence even classified and actual figures of performance would be vastly different,” Franklin said.

PM NARENDRA MODI CALLS MEETING TO REVIEW ‘MOST FAVOURED NATION’ STATUS TO PAKISTAN.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting on September 29 in which the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status granted to Pakistan will be reviewed. The decision comes a day after PM Modi held a meeting with top officials to review the Indus Waters Treaty. Top officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Commerce Ministry will be in attendance.

The review meetings come post the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed, following which India has made it clear that ties with Pakistan will never be the same again. India has already reiterated its stand of isolating the country globally, and has called for nations to do the same.

The ‘MFN’ status was accorded in 1996 under WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this which means they have to treat each other and rest of the WTO member countries as favored ‘trading partners’. Bilateral trade between the two nations, however, stood at just 0.4 per cent of India’s overall goods trade worth.

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also took on Pakistan at the UNGA debate while replying to Nawaz Sharif. She said, in an indirect manner, that Pakistan was supporting terrorist activities in South Asia and the world and needs to be isolated.

HAL, SUKHOI TO BUILD INDIA'S 5TH GENERATION FIGHTER

A Russian Air Force Sukhoi PAK-FA on which India's Fifth Gen Fighter Aircraft will be based

What are the different types of fighter planes?

There are three broad categories in which fighter aircraft can be classified - fighters, bombers and attack aircraft. A fighter plane is used for securing control over a particular airspace by destroying enemy aircraft. The less maneuverable and relatively heavier bomber is used to attack surface targets by bombs and missiles. Attack aircraft fly at lower altitudes and are used to ambush tanks on the ground and army formation in the airspace. 

When did military aviation start?

Hot air and hydrogen balloons were used for military reconnaissance in the late 18th century. But the first commercial order for heavier-than-air aircraft, invented by Wright Brothers, for military applications came from the US army, which wanted aeroplanes for surveillance purpose. These planes were, however, not suitable for combat situations. Fighters and bombers emerged during the First World War. The Second World War saw more rapid development of military aviation when bombers used to destroy cities and army formations.

Which planes were the true predecessors of the modern fighters?

It was soon realised that traditional plane flying with the help of engine and propellers had limitations when it came to achieving supersonic speed. German aircraft He178 manufactured in 1939 was world's first jet powered aircraft. During the end of the Second World War in mid-1944, Germans were able to manufacture Me262 - the most advanced jet powered aircraft of that time. The fighter, capable of achieving speed of 845 kmph, entered service too late to have any impact on the outcome of the war. These planes along with the other jet powered aircraft developed by the allied forces during the war are classified as the first generation fighters.

What are the other generations of fighter planes?

Unlike the first generation subsonic fighter planes fitted with basic avionic system (an electronic system used on aircraft), the second generation fighters, developed between mid 1950s and 1960s, had radar, or self-protection system. These jets could reach supersonic speed Third generation planes, manufactured between early 1960s to 1970, had advanced manoeuvrability and weapon system. These planes that included MIG-23, and Mirage III were capable of shooting at targets beyond pilot's visible range. Fourth generation fighters were conceived in the 70s and became operational in the early 80s. These planes were also equipped with the fly-by-wire system which means replacement of manual fight control with electronic devices. Notable fighters of this generation are the American F-15, F-16, French Mirage 2000 and the Soviet MiG-29.

How far has aircraft technology advanced by now?

Most of the fighter jets used by major militaries today are classified as 4+ and 4++ generation. The latest is fifth generation fighters. Aeronautics company Lockheed Martin defined fifth generation planes as aircraft with super maneuverability, advanced computer system and all aspect stealth, making it virtually impossible for the intercepting radars to locate them. Since 2005 the company is marketing its F-22 Raptor as a fifth generation fighter plane. It is reported that India's fifth generation fighter plane will be co-developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and it will be based on Sukhoi PAK FA.

BANGLADESH TO ERECT BARBED WIRE FENCE ON BORDER WITH INDIA

JESSORE, BANGLADESH:

                              With India looking to completely seal the Indo-Bangla border in Assam soon, a top Bangladeshi security commander has said his country has decided to erect a barbed wire fence along the border with India and Myanmar.

Director General of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Bangladesh's border guarding force, Major General Aziz Ahmed told a visiting group of Indian journalists here that his government has already approved a project to have a 282 km road along the border it shares with India and Myanmar.

While India borders Bangladesh from three sides (4,096 km), it shares a small 271 km border with Myamnar on its eastern flank.

"Our government, in principle, has agreed to have barbed wire fencing along the borders with India as well as Myanmar. In principle, it has also been decided to have link roads all along the border like India is having which facilitates BSF activities and those of the Myanmarese border guarding forces," the BGB chief said while speaking via video-link at the headquarter of BGB's south-west region here from his office in Peelkhana in Dhaka.

He said it was "unfortunate" that these "two basic needs" of having a barbed wire fence and roads has not been developed on the Bangladeshi side till now. Ahmed said these projects are under "active consideration" of his government.

Ahmed made the remarks while replying to a question where he was asked what was Bangladesh's response to India which had recently said that the Indo-Bangla border in Assam will be fully sealed by June, 2017 and later all along.

"You would understand that all these things require huge amounts of money...but the government has already approved a project for 282 km where roads along with barbed wire fence will be erected and possibly that will start from the Myanmarese side," Ahmed said.

He said as India has already raised fence along 79 per cent of the Indo-Bangla border, it "indirectly helps" his country in checking cross-border crimes.

The DG stated that in a large number of cases where BSF approaches them for construction of fencing along the border, they give a "prompt consent" except in few instances where the construction is very close to the zero line and there are issues involved.

"After all, Indian fencing helps us too," he reiterated.

The top commander said the two border guarding forces are also working to create a database of habitual offenders active along the Indo-Bangla frontier as he accepted that this was a "weak" point in ensuring effective border security and trans-border movement of terrorists and criminals was a "serious concern" for them.

Q & A - `FAILING TO RESPOND THIS TIME WOULD ENCOURAGE PAKISTAN ... TELL THE WORLD WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE STRONG MILITARY ACTION'

                                                                                         Former Army Chief General VP Malik

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally reiterating that those guilty of killing 18 Indian soldiers in Uri will be punished, former Army Chief General V P Malik has pushed vehemently for calibrated military action, arguing that failure to retaliate would encourage Pakistan.

Ahead of External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj's speech in the UN General Assembly today, General Malik, who led the Army during the Kargil war , spoke to Ajay Surya, on why India should make efforts to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and about the government's response so far:

Should India strike back? What are the military options with India?

If we fail to respond this time, it would further encourage Pakistan to continue training and arming more militants to send them across and interfere in our internal situation in Kashmir and elsewhere. Military option includes retaliation across line of control with the support of heavy artillery and airpower. It can be surprise raids on militant camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and occupation of important territory which is most vulnerable to infiltration. While carrying out such strikes, we must ensure that they are well-coordinated and should not forget that risk is high if the surprise element is lost.

The military option should not be an impetuous reaction and we should build in an escalatory ladder (factoring in reactions from the other side). A well-coordinated military operation can be carried out considering all important factors including cost, risk, mitigation and chances of success in present circumstances.

What diplomatic options should India exercise?

We should make efforts to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. It can be done easily not by mere pleading but telling the nations in the world that they are leaving us no choice except to take very strong military action against Pakistan. Don't show helplessness to a world forum: tell the world forum, if collectively you do not take any action against Pakistan, you are not leaving any choice before us except to wage war.

During the Kargil war, around the middle of June, the US was virtually given an ultimatum that you are leaving us no choice except to cross the international border with Pakistan. We cannot hold our military back. The message was conveyed by Brajesh Mishra (then National Security Adviser) to Sandy Berger (then US National Security Adviser). He pleaded with us please don't do anything, you will see the reaction from our side. That is why, later on a dialogue was started. Either the reaction is military heavy or diplomatic heavy . All three chiefs of armed forces should be kept in the loop.

Have we learnt anything from Pathankot and other provocations?

We should have learnt but apparently not enough. We have made the same mistakes as far as infiltration is concerned and permitted infiltration to take place. There is no doubt that there has been some complacency , whether it was in Pathankot or in the Uri administration base. We obviously were not able to send a correct message after Pathankot. Our message after Pathankot just fizzled out, our action could be termed a failure.

Some political leaders suggested during the Kargil war that we should push on and take PoK. You rejected the idea. Why?

The circumstances under which we fought the Kargil war were totally different from the situation today . In early 1999, the international community considered us a rogue state of sorts because of our nuclear tests and imposed sanctions on us. During one of my conversations, I was asked if we could capture the whole of PoK. I said it will require not only the material the armed forces needed but will also require a long time. Not crossing the LoC was the order we got.

How is the global political scenario today different from 1999 and early 2002 after the Parliament attack?

1999 was too close to our nuclear tests and talks were going on about that. After the Parliament attack, we again made a mistake in not doing anything even after keeping our forces on alert for 10 months. I would say till January 2002, they were scared but later they realised that we are not going to do anything. Thereafter we had the Gujarat incident and we started withdrawing our forces. It was obvious that we were not doing anything. Whatever we do should have some impact. During Operation Parakram we could have made some impact but failed to do so at the time.

What about political and military preparedness today?

The only weakness with the present political authority is that they don't seem to look at security issues in a holistic manner. They have divided it into compartments. I have not seen as much cabinet committee on security (CCS) meetings as during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time. I cannot discuss details of military preparedness but I can say that the forces are capable enough to deal with any situation.

RESEARCH ON FOR REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE.

PUNE: 

      India's space research mission is now looking to double the capacity of communication satellites and improve reusable launch vehicle technology, said K Radhakrishnan, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a function organized by the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (Yashada) on Saturday.

"We are looking at materials that can withstand high temperature and speed, and miniaturizing electronic components. We need to reduce the satellite's weight, but we need high power. We are also looking at Astrobiology," said Radhakrishnan.

He also spoke about the need for fresh ideas from people who know how to formulate new techniques and not something derived from existing concepts. Radhakrishnan further stated that ISRO is also looking at manned missions. Talking about Chandrayaan 2, he said that both the rover and lander will be made indigenously.

Speaking of the change in space missions around the world over the years, he said that from the race to be in space and the competitiveness during the Cold War-era, countries have realized the importance of cooperation. This has also reduced the cost of space exploration.

Radhakrishnan went on to talk about the major role industries are playing in space exploration and mentioned how some start-ups are trying to make use of space exploration on their own.

He underlined a key difference between space missions by other countries and local efforts stating that, for India, a mission is just about space applications which can used for developing the nation and not to show one country's might over the other.

Doubling the capacity of communication satellite, improving reusable launch vehicle technology are the areas where India's space research mission is now looking at, said K Radhakrishnan, former chairman Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He was talking at a function in the city organized at Yashada on Saturday.

"We are looking at materials that can withstand high temperature and high speed. We are looking at miniaturizing electronic component. We need to reduce the weight of the satellite but we need high power. Then we are looking at the field of Astrobiology," said Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan also talked about the need for fresh ideas. "We need people who can give new and innovative ideas. We need people who will give new techniques and not something derived from what has already been done," said Radhakrishnan.

Answering questions from the audience, Radhakrishnan said that ISRO is also looking at manned missions. Talking about Chandrayaan 2, Radhakrishnan said that both the rover and the lander will be made indigenously.

Talking about the change in space missions over the years in the world, Radhakrishnan said that from the race to be in space and the competitiveness during the cold war time, countries have now realized the importance of cooperation and this has also reduced the cost of space exploration.

Radhakrishnan also talked about major role industries are playing in space exploration and also mentioned how some start-ups are trying to make use of space exploration on their own.

Radhakrishnan also paid his tribute to all the Indian scientists who made space exploration a success in India. He also underlined a key difference between other countries' space missions and Indian space mission stating that for India, space mission is just about space applications which can be put to use for developing the nation and not to show one's might over the other.

Answering critics who have raised questions over using crores of rupees on space exploration in a country driven by poverty and other problems, Radhakrishnan said that it was the 48 hour advanced warning of cyclone alert in Orissa by a satellite and its consequence analysis by Indian Meteorological Department which led to saving 4 lakh lives as the entire population was evacuated. He also said that space exploration will help to understand earth better and also in harnessing various important elements available in the universe for human use.

MODI TO CHAIR MEETING TO REVIEW INDIA, PAK WATER-SHARING TREATY TODAY.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a high-level meeting on TODAY to look into the possibility of revisiting a water-sharing treaty with Pakistan that has survived decades of frosty ties and three wars.

“The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi will be looking at the pros and cons of the pact,” senior government officials said.

The Indus water treaty of September 19, 1960, between India and Pakistan, is one of the most liberal water-sharing pacts in the world.

Under the treaty, which was signed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan president Ayub Khan, the water of six rivers — Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — was to be shared between the two countries.

The pact, brokered by the World Bank, survived three wars between the two countries and constant strain in their bilateral ties.

There is now a clamour to use the pact to bring the neighbour to mend its ways after the Uri attack proved Pakistan is both unable and unwilling to stop its territory being used by terrorists against India.

The Indus agreement deals with six rivers — the three eastern rivers of Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and their tributaries and the three western rivers of Indus, Jhelum, Chenab and their tributaries.

Water from the eastern rivers has been allocated to India, and New Delhi is obligated to let 80% water from the western rivers flow to Pakistan.

The Indus water treaty gives the lower riparian Pakistan more “than four times” of the water available to India. Despite such liberal terms, Pakistan and India have often sparred over water released.

Reviewing the treaty will be a difficult proposition for India.

Pakistan’s all-weather ally China is the upper riparian state in the Brahmaputra, a river that flows into India’s northeast. Making any precedent in which an upper riparian state is overbearing can give hints to Beijing on the water-sharing issue, which doesn’t augur well for India.

UNIQUE MISSION: ISRO WORKHORSE IS SET TO INJECT EIGHT SATELLITES IN ORBITS...

Today, India’s workhorse PSLV will, for the first time, inject eight different satellites, including weather satellite SCATSAT-1, into two different orbits.

Here are the details of the launch and payloads:

— The PSLV-C35 will be launched from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota at 9.12 a.m. tomorrow. The total weight of all the eight satellites is about 675 kg.

— The SCATSAT-1 will be released first into a 730 km Polar Sunsynchronous Orbit (SSO) after about 17 minutes and the rest will be injected into a lower orbit of 689 km after around two hours. The flight is PSLV’s longest ever.

— There will be two re-ignitions of the launch vehicle for this purpose. The launch team engineers will shut down and restart the fourth and last stage of the vehicle twice during the flight.

— Besides SCATSAT-1, the others are PRATHAM and PISAT, two academic satellites from India; ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B and ALSAT-1N (all from Algeria); and Pathfinder-1 and NLS-19, from the USA and Canada, respectively.

— This will be the 15th flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration with the use of solid strap-on motors.

— The mission objectives of SCATSAT-1 are to help provide weather forecasting services, cyclone detection and tracking. It has a design life of 15 years.

— The five-kg student satellite PISAT carries an imaging camera as payload to capture imagery of 185 km x 135 km area with about 80m/pixel resolution. The satellite is developed by students of PES University, Bangalore.

— The other student satellite, PRATHAM, is developed by IIT Bombay.

— The PSLV has so far launched 39 remote-sensing satellites of ISRO, including the Chandrayaan-1 of 2008 and the Mars mission of 2013-14.

— It has also orbited 74 foreign commercial and university satellites in a global trend where the demand for its category of launch services is increasing.