On Wednesday, ISRO said the 25hour countdown for the launch of communication satellite CMS01 on board launch vehicle PSLV-C50 began.
The 52nd mission of the polar satellite launch vehicle is scheduled for lift-off at 15.41hours on Thursday from the second launch pad ‘Subject to weather conditions’ at the Sriharikota spaceport.
“Mission of PSLV-CMS-01: Countdown for the launch of the mission of PSLV-C50/CMS01began today at 1441hrs from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR Sriharikota, ISRO said.
CMS01 is the space agency’s 42nd communication satellite and is designed to provide frequency range ExtendedC Band services covering the islands of India, Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep.
The PSLVC50 is the 22nd PSLV flight in the ‘XL’ configuration (equipped with six strapon engines), and the 77th Sriharikota launch vehicle mission, about 120 km from here will be launched tomorrow.
It follows the successful launch on November 7 of the earth observation satellite PSLVC49 (EOS01) and nine customer spacecraft, which was ISRO’s first mission of the year in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.