ISRO has postponed today’s planned launch of its PSLV rocket after detecting a technical problem in the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 satellites. The launch, which was originally scheduled for 4:08 PM today from Sriharikota, will now take place tomorrow at 4:12 PM.
The countdown for the PSLV-C59 mission was going smoothly until engineers spotted an anomaly in the Proba-3 satellites just minutes before the planned liftoff. The launch site at Sriharikota, located along the Bay of Bengal, had perfect weather conditions for the mission.
This will be the 61st flight of ISRO’s reliable PSLV rocket. The mission carries two special satellites from the European Space Agency that will work together to create an artificial solar eclipse in space. The combined weight of these satellites is 545 kg, and they will be carried by the 44.5-meter-tall PSLV rocket, which weighs 320 tonnes at launch.
The Proba-3 mission is quite unique – it’s the world’s first precision formation-flying mission. The two satellites will fly together in a special pattern, maintaining their positions as if they were connected. After launching, the satellites will be placed in orbit about 600 km above Earth, approximately 18 minutes into the flight.
This is the second time ESA has chosen India’s PSLV rocket for their Proba series. The first one, Proba-1, was launched in 2001 and is still working well after more than 20 years, even though it was planned to work for just one year.
The mission is being carried out as a commercial launch through ISRO’s commercial arm, New Space India Limited (NSIL).
