ISRO to launch RISAT-2BR1, 9 foreign commercial satellites on December 11

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday announced that its will launch RISAT-2BR1 and 9 commercial satellites on board PSLV-C48 on December 11 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

RISAT-2BR1, the second satellite in the RISAT-2B series, is a Radar imaging earth observation satellite weighing about 628 kg. 

PSLV-C48 is the 50th mission of PSLV. It will launch RISAT-2BR1 from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). 

The launch is tentatively scheduled at 3:25 om on December 11, subject to weather conditions, the Indian space agency said.

RISAT-2BR1 will be placed into an orbit of 576 km at an inclination of 37 degree. 

PSLV-C48 will also carry 9 customer satellites - one each from Israel, Italy and Japan; and six from USA - as co-passengers, ISRO said. 

These international customer satellites are being launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), it said. 

PSLV-C48 is the second flight of PSLV in 'QL' configuration (with 4 strap-on motors). 

This will be the 75th launch vehicle mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota and 37th launch from the First Launch pad.

This will be ISRO's second satellite launch mission within a month. Earlier on November 27, ISRO's PSLV-C47 successfully launched Cartosat-3 and 13 Commercial nanosatellites.

ISRO said Cartosat-3 is the most complex and advanced earth observation satellite built by the agency.

PSLV-C47 was the 21st flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with 6 solid strap-on motors).