India will launch Singapore’s first domestically built satellite, XSat, into space in late December, according to an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The 100-kilogram experimental satellite will be carried by ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle along with India’s Resourcesat-2 and a Russian-Indian satellite called Youth Sat, ISRO spokesman S. Satish told Space News Nov. 2. The launch will take place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in southeastern India.
XSat was jointly built by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the country’s DSO National Laboratories, and will carry an Earth imaging camera, an advanced data acquisition and messaging payload for communicating with small ground terminals, and an experimental payload to test a high-performance parallel processor for space use. Satish said the satellite has yet to arrive at the Indian launch site.
The XSat will be placed in a polar orbit at a height of 800 kilometers and will relay data to a ground station at the university.
The launch will take place under a 2003 agreement between Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, and the Singapore University in Bangalore, India.
