Tiki Rajwi By

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the successful IRNSS-1D mission in March, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up to place three satellites of a UK-based firm in orbit at one go.

The PSLV C-28/DMC-3 mission is slated for June and the launch date will be decided on Friday.ISRO had inked an MoU with UK-based DMC Imaging International (DMCii) for placing three of its earth observation satellites in orbit last year.

“We will be using the ‘XL’ version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for the mission. We are hoping to have the mission in the third week of June, but the exact date of the mission will be decided at the Mission Readiness Review Meeting on Friday,” M Chandradathan, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), said. The three satellites combined weigh only 800-900 kg so a single mission would suffice, Chandradathan said. Initially there was a plan to carry the US satellite SkySat-3 also on this mission as a secondary payload, but a final decision on it will be taken on Friday. The PSLV C-28/DMC-3 mission is one of several commercial launch deals that the Antrix Corporation, ISRO’s commercial wing, has signed in recent months.

In fact, it is the next mission in line and will lift off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. In recent missions, ISRO has come more and more to bank on the PSLV-XL rocket, a version of the conventional PSLV fitted with bigger strap-on boosters which was first used in October 2008 for the Chandrayaan I mission.

It was then used seven more times, all with success, including the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in November 2013 and the IRNSS-1C and ID missions in October 2014 and March 2015. The three other missions planned for this year after the DMC project - two IRNSS satellites and Astrosat - also will be using the XL version, ISRO officials said.