India is set to mark the beginning of 2019 with the launch of two satellites. The countdown for India’s first satellite launch for the year has begun. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch satellite Kalamsat and an imaging satellite Microsat-R, on January 24. The rocket PSLV C44 will launch from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The 16-hour countdown began on Wednesday for the launch of Kalamsat, a student payload, and imaging satellite Microsat-R, onboard India’s Polar rocket PSLV C-44 from the spaceport of Sriharikota.

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“The countdown for the launch of PSLV-C44 mission started on January 23, 2019 at 7.23 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is scheduled at 11.37 PM on January 24, 2019,” a mission update by ISRO said.





PSLV-C44 is the first mission of PSLV-DL, a new variant of the 44.4 metre tall rocket equipped with two strap-on configuration. According to the mission launch brochure, Kalamsat, the first to use PS4 as orbital platform, is a payload contributed by students and Microsat-R is an imaging satellite. It did not give any other detail about the payloads.

In its last mission, on November 29 last year, the ISRO successfully injected India’s earth observation satellite HysIS onboard PSLV C43 into its designated orbit.