PSLV-C16 to orbit three satellites on Wednesday

Chennai: India's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C16) from Sriharikota on Wednesday, 20 April.

The workhorse rocket will once again orbit multiple satellites, including India's Resourcesat-2, an Indo-Russian satellite called Youthsat and a micro-satellite named X-Sat from the Nangyang Technological University of Singapore.

It is given to understand that the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) cleared the rocket's lift-off on Saturday.

According to ISRO officials, the second and the fourth stages of the rocket would be filled with liquid propellants during the countdown.

The 1,206 kg, ISRO-built Resourcesat-2 - the primary satellite in this mission - is an advanced remote-sensing satellite. It will carry three cameras, with high, medium and coarse resolutions.

The imagery from these cameras will be useful for estimating the health of crops, locating ground water, keeping surveillance on deforestation, and monitoring the level of water in reservoirs and lakes and the snow-melt in the Himalayas and the consequent receipt of water in the rivers.

The 92-kg Youthsat has been built by India and Russia, with one payload from Russia and two from ISRO. The satellite will be used for stellar and atmospheric studies, including watching the activities in the sun and their effect on the earth's upper atmosphere.