India for the first time will launch a foreign satellite -- an Italian one -- as a primary payload on a home-grown rocket, as space scientists prepare to further demonstrate the country's cost-effective launch services capability. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched foreign payloads as piggybacks in the past; next month's mission would see the space agency launching the 360-kg AGILE spacecraft as a primary payload. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the workhorse rocket of Bangalore-headquartered ISRO, would blast-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota with AGILE and India's Advanced Avionics Module (AAM) as secondary payload. The launch is scheduled between April 20-30.
After the successful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C7 mission and the recovery of the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE)-1 in January, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for the launch of PSLV-C8. The launch is set for the third week of April, PSLV mission director N Narayana Moorthy said while addressing the annual meeting of the Indian National Society for Aerospace and Related Mechanisms (ISARM) on Saturday. A commercial mission, PSLV-C8 will carry an Italian satellite ‘Agile.’ The satellite will be brought to India by March-end.