ISRO to launch 7 satellites in 1,200 seconds:India

The stage is set for the launch on Wednesday of the Indian Space Research Organisation's workhorse Polar Satellite

Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for placing into orbit the country's 16th remote sensing satellite, Oceansat-2, and six European nano satellites.

"The countdown is progressing well. The launch window is between 11.51 am and 12.06 pm. The weather forecast is clear," ISRO spokesman S Satish said from the Sriharikota rocket launch centre around 80 km from here.

"We don't expect any last minute thrills or tension," he added.

Seven satellites in 1,200 seconds. A launch similar to the one in April 2008 when ISRO launched 10 satellites. The final 51-hour countdown began on Monday at 9am. Of the six nano satellites, four are from Germany, one is from Switzerland and one from Turkey. The seventh is a big one, India's Oceansat-2 weighing 960 kg.

From the time of launch to ejection of satellites, time taken will be around 1,200 seconds. While Oceansat-2 is set to be ejected after 1,055 seconds, four nano satellites will be ejected in the next 45 seconds. Two others are meant to stay with the fourth stage of the rocket which will be on its own once the different stages of the rocket get separated.

The sequence of ejection is very similar to the April 2008 launch featuring one big satellite - Cartosat-2A and nine other nano satellites - 10 in all: once the PSLV takes off and reaches a certain height and velocity, it will first launch the Oceansat-2 and a few seconds later, the first of four nano satellites. Every 10-12 seconds, the PSLV will launch four satellites one after the other. (Two will remain with the fourth stage).