On Saturday, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C49 carrying the EOS-01 all-weather earth imaging satellite and nine customer satellites took off from the spaceport.
The launch was scheduled at 15:02 hours IST today but the mission director approved the launch of PSLV-C49 at 15:12 hours (3:12 pm) due to bad weather.
"India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its 51st mission (PSLV-C49) will launch EOS-01 as primary satellite along with nine international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled at 1502 Hrs IST on November 7, 2020, subject to weather conditions," the space agency said.
The nine foreign satellites are from: Lithuania (1-R2, technology demonstrator), Luxembourg (4 Kleos Space maritime application satellites) and the US (4-Lemur remote sensing multi-mission satellites).
EOS-01 is an earth observation satellite designed for agriculture , forestry and disaster management support applications.
The space agency reported that under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space, the customer satellites are being launched.
Alternatively, the PSLV is a four-stage / engine rocket propelled by solid and liquid fuels with six booster motors strapped on to the first stage to provide greater thrust during the initial moments of flight.
This is the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first mission in 2020.
ISRO was congratulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and praised the scientists for meeting the deadline even despite coronavirus constraints.