Just over 16 minutes into its flight, the rocket will sling RISAT-2BR1 and a minute later the first of the nine customer satellites will be ejected. The launch mission is expected to conclude in about 21 minutes when the last of the customer satellites will be put into orbit.
India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket would launch the country's latest spy satellite RISAT-2BR1 and nine foreign satellites on December 11, said the Indian space agency.
"The students' work included satellite planning, writing the airborne and ground software and testing it up for satellite launch," he noted, adding, "One can see that it is the high school students who are at the centre of the whole project. The elders were more in a consultative role".
The countdown for the Wednesday launch of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying the radar imaging earth observation satellite, RISAT-2B began on Tuesday, said an ISRO official.
The rocket will carry the RISAT-2B weighing 615 kg which will beef up India's surveillance capabilities from the sky.
About 14 minutes into the flight, the rocket would eject Microsat R at an altitude of about 277km. This would start functioning at an altitude of 450km in about the 103th minute after lift-off.
The country's only spaceport is located at Sriharikota, about 90 km northeast of Chennai.
GSLV-F11 is ISRO's fourth generation launch vehicle with three stages.
GSAT-7 will have a mission life of eight years and it is built to provide communication capability to the users in Ku-band over the Indian region.
The rocket carrying the 3,423 kg GSAT-29 will sling it into Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO) just over 16 minutes into its flight.
ISRO launches PSLV-C42 carrying two foreign satellites from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh
After the launch, ISRO chairman K Sivan described the mission as a success and congratulated the scientists behind it.
"My heartiest congratulations to ISRO and its scientists on the successful launch of PSLV. This success in the New Year will bring benefits of the country's rapid strides in space technology to our citizens, farmers, fishermen", PM Modi tweeted.
"The 28-hour countdown began at 5.29 a.m. in the mission control here for the rocket launch at 9.28 a.m. on Friday," said the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on its website.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday said the launch of India’s eighth navigation satellite IRNSS-1H was 'unsuccessful'
India’s ‘eye in the sky’ became sharper and wider as Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Friday morning lifted off successfully with the country's earth observation satellite Cartosat and 30 co-passenger satellites
After the successful launch of 104 satellites from a single rocket, India has emerged as a "key player" in a growing global commercial market for space - based surveillance and communication, world media commented on
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