Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has decided to delay launch of India’s commercial rocket carrying five foreign satellites by three minutes to avoid the vehicle colliding with space debris.

A meeting of the readiness review committee led by the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) on Friday decided to delay the launch of the expendable rocket –the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)—from the original time of 9.49 am to 9.52 am.

The rocket will blast off from Isro’s rocket port at Sriharikota, 80 kilometres from here. With the beginning of the 49-hour countdown for the launch from Saturday morning, India is preparing to put five satellites from four countries into space.

SPOT-7

PSLV’s major payload will be the 714-kg French earth observation satellite SPOT-7.

It will also carry 14-kg satellite AISAT from Germany, NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) and NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) from Canada each weighing 15 kg, and the 7-kg VELOX-1 from Singapore.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to witness the blast-off as the launch is the first since the new NDA government assumed office in May. The five satellites are being launched under commercial agreements made by Antrix Corporation (Isro’s commercial arm) with the agencies of the countries concerned.