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Spacetech startup Pixxel is set to launch its third hyperspectral satellite Anand onboard ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Sriharikota spaceport on Saturday. Anand is a hyperspectral microsatellite weighing less than 15 kg but having more than 150 wavelengths that will enable it to capture images of the earth in greater detail than today's non-hyperspectral satellites that have not more than 10 wavelengths. The imagery from the satellite can be used to detect pest infestation, map forest fires, identify soil stress and oil slicks amongst other things, a statement from Pixxel said on Monday. "After more than 18 months of delay, many many retests, and more than two years of sweat and hard work by the team, we are finally launching this week," Awais Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pixxel said on Twitter. Founded by Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, Pixxel became the first Indian company ever to launch a commercial satellite Shakuntala in April using Elon Musk's SpaceX'
The 25 hour countdown for the launch of PSLV-C53 mission from here on Thursday has commenced, ISRO said. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be launching the second dedicated commercial mission of its commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL)- 'PSLV-C53' carrying three satellites from Singapore on June 30. "PSLV-C53/DS-EO mission: The countdown leading to the launch on June 30, 2022, at 18:02 hours IST has commenced," the space agency said in a tweet on Wednesday. PSLV-C53 is the second dedicated commercial mission of NSIL. It is designed to orbit DS-EO satellite along with two other co-passenger satellites from Singapore. This is the 55th mission of PSLV. The three satellites are- DS-EO and NeuSAR- both belonging to Singapore and built by Starec Initiative, Republic of Korea, while the third one is is a 2.8 kg Scoob-1 of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday completed launch rehearsal of the PSLV-C51 mission slated for February 28. India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51) is scheduled to launch Brazil's Amazonia-1 as primary satellite and 18 co-passenger satellites from first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharkota, about 100 km from Chennai, at 10.24 am on Sunday. The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency had announced on February 5 that there would be 20 co-passenger satellites. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's engraved picture on a co-passenger satellite and sending Bhagavad Gita on-board in electronic format are some of the notable aspects in the launch. Indian Space start-up Pixxel announced two days ago that due to "certain software issues" its first satellite 'Anand' would no longer be part of the payload on board the PSLV-C51 rocket. And on Thursday, ISRO confirmed that its nano satellite INS-2DT will also not be part of the ...