PSLV-C40 will mark Isro's maiden century

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C40 (PSLV-C40), which is scheduled for a launch on January 12 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, will mark the maiden century of satellites for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said M Annadurai, director of the Isro Satellite Centre.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-month-long exhibition on Astrosat, India's first astronomy mission, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium here.

Annadurai said of 31 satellites being carried by the PSLV-C40, three of them are Indian and one of them is the 100th satellite independently developed by Isro.

The payload from India will have the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite for earth observation, a microsatellite and a nanosatellite.

Annadurai interacted with students attending the exhibition at the planetarium and explained to them the working of the satellite with the help 

of a 3D printed scaled down model.

"We have downloaded 12 terabytes of data from the satellite and many papers have been published. There is a lot of interest from foreign and Indian scientists," he said.

Annadurai said the Chandrayaan-II was in the final stages of integration and 

would also be launched this year.

The Chandrayaan-II, unlike the first lunar mission Chandrayaan-I, would land on the moon. A six-foot-tall rover will take soil samples and other tests to check if the observations made from the first mission were correct, he added.

"Bengaluru is ready for you and the place where these satellites are built is only a few kilometers away. If you too are ready, you can be a part of future missions such as 

Chandrayaan-III and IV or Aryabhata II and III," Annadurai said.

He encouraged students to complete their degrees and stay in the country.

"You don't have to go to the United States of America (USA) to get opportunities. Even German, American, and European scientists are coming here," he said.