PUBLISHED ONDecember 15, 2015 2:44 AM
NEW DELHI - India will tomorrow launch six Singapore satellites into space on board its indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C29) rocket from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.
According to India's state-owned space agency, the countdown for the launch of the six satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh began yesterday morning.
"The 59-hour countdown activity of PSLV-C29/TeLEOS-1 Mission has started at 0700 hours today (Monday)," China's Xinhua news agency cited the Indian Space Research Organisation as saying.
After being sent off to space, the six satellites will hover about 550km above ground for up to five years.
TeLEOS-1 is the primary satellite while the others are two micro-satellites and three nano-satellites.
The six satellites were built by Singapore manufacturer Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics), the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University.
The 400kg TeLEOS-1 can conduct surveillance missions for maritime and border security. ST Electronics told The Straits Times in October it is the first Singapore-made commercial earth observation satellite to orbit in space. It is expected to last up to five years and will carry a camera that can take pictures at ground resolution of up to 1m.
The other smaller satellites will last between six months and three years.
This article was first published on Dec 15, 2015.
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