India to launch seven Singapore satellites on July 30

Bengaluru: India would launch a satellite from Singapore carrying a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) capable of taking images under all weather conditions, on July 30.

The Indian rocket PSLV-C56 would put into orbit Singapore's DS-SAR satellite, along with six co-passenger satellites from the island city-state, from the first launch-pad of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh at 6.30 am on Sunday.

The DS-SAR satellite is developed under a partnership between Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA)(representing the Government of Singapore) and Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering), a global technology, defence and engineering company.

Once deployed and operational, it will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore. ST Engineering will use it for multi-modal and higher responsiveness imagery and geospatial services for their commercial customers.

DS-SAR carries a SAR payload developed by IAI allowing the satellite to provide for all-weather day and night coverage, and capability of imaging at one metre resolution at full polarimetry.

The NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a central public sector undertaking under the Department of Space (DOS), has procured the PSLV-C56 to deploy the 360-kg DS-SAR satellite and the six co-passenger satellites, the ISRO, the national space agency headquartered here, tweeted on Monday.

“It's a commercial mission,” DOS Secretary and ISRO Chairman, Somanath S, told PTI.

The six co-passenger satellites are: VELOX-AM, a technology demonstration microsatellite, Atmospheric Coupling and Dynamics Explorer (ARCADE), an experimental satellite, SCOOB-II , a 3U nanosatellite flying a technology demonstrator payload, NuLIoN by NuSpace, an advanced 3U nanosatellite enabling seamless IoT connectivity in both urban & remote locations, Galassia-2, a 3U nanosatellite that will be orbiting at low earth orbit, and ORB-12 STRIDER, from Aliena Pte. Ltd., Singapore, a satellite developed under an International collaboration, according to ISRO.

The PSLV-C56 is configured in its core-alone mode, similar to that of C55.