Run by: Kalyan Foundation Trust, Bhavnagar
Supported by: Gujarat Council on Science & Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat
 Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat

India launch PSLV C23

2014 30 Jun

India set to launch PSLV C23 on Monday, 30th June 2014: 9.52 am
India is all set to launch its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, C-23 from the Sriharikota spaceport on Monday, 30th June 2014.
Country's third commercial launch, PSLV-C23 would carry five foreign satellites to orbit. PSLV-C23 would carry SIPCOT-7, a French satellite, as the main payload. It will also launch satellites of Germany, Canada and Singapore.
The French Earth observation satellite, the 714-kg SPOT-7, will be the main passenger on the PSLV’s 27th flight and will be put into space at about 650 km from ground, along with four small co-riders. 
They are Germany agency DLR’s 14-kg nanosat AISAT to monitor sea traffic; Canada’s NLS 7.1 and NLS 7.2, each weighing 15 kg; and NTU Singapore’s 7-kg small satellite VELOX-1. 
ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan has informed that this was the PSLV’s third dedicated commercial launch since it started taking up non-Indian spacecraft for a fee way back in May 1999. 
Over the next two years, the ISRO has scheduled three more such ‘dedicated’ commercial PSLV flights.
A fully commercial launch means there is no Indian spacecraft on the launcher and customers pay for the launch of their respective satellites on the PSLV. 
In the past, PSLV-C21 carried SPOT-6, which is the present SPOT-7’s complementary satellite, and PROTERES into space in September 2012; PSLV-C10 lifted Israel’s TECSAR in January 2008, and PSLV-C8 launched Italy’s AGILE in April 2007. 
The PSLV, which can lift a total satellite weight of around 1.6 tonnes to a height of around 650 km, is firmly placed on the multi-billion-dollar global market of satellite launchers and has been commanding a good price that has risen from the promotional rates in its early years.