The Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO is set for the historic launch of 20 satellites including 17 foreign payloads using its flagship rocket PSLV C34 tomorrow. The versatile launch vehicle will lift off with India's Cartosat 2 Series satellite meant for earth observations as the primary payload and 19 other micro and nano satellites from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta tomorrow at 9.26 am. Quoting sources, our correspondent reports that the 48-hour countdown that began yesterday morning for the launch, is progressing smoothly.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports that the national space agency ISRO is set to make two unique records tomorrow. The launch of an unprecedented 20 payloads in a single mission would happen from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Center. The mission would long for 26 and a half minutes by which time all satellites will be put into a polar synchronous orbit of 505 km height one by one. Later, the fourth stage engine of the rocket is going to be subjected to a complex experiment by reigniting it twice. It is to check for its ability to launch many satellites at different heights in a single mission.

The 48-hour countdown for the launch of the PSLV C34 rocket carrying 20 satellites is going on as per schedule smoothly at the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikotta. The national space agency ISRO has said the filling of fourth stage of the versatile launch vehicle with liquid fuel and oxides has been completed and other tasks are being carried out day and night at the second launch pad of the national spaceport. <br/><br/>The launch is scheduled to be at 9.26 am Wednesday. The primary satellite for the launch is Cartosat 2-Series, a remote sensing payload weighing 727.5 kg, which is meant for augmenting India's earth observation facilities. It will be put into a sun synchronous orbit after about 17 minutes from the time of the launch vehicle's lift off. <br/><br/>The 19 other co- passengers including two students satellites from the Satyabama University, Chennai and the College of Engineering, Pune and 17 other payloads from foreign customers including the US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia will be injected into the orbits in the next 10 minutes. This will be the highest number of satellites to be put into orbit by an Indian launch vehicle in a single mission.<br/><br/><br/>Tomorrow will be an important day for the 176 students from the College Of Engineering Pune when the Indian Space Research Organization will launch its Pico Satellite 'Swayam', which is claimed to be the first Indian Satellite developed by the students. <br/><br/>It is since 2008 that students of COEP were working on Swayam project on a corpus fund of 50 lakh rupees. Students of all faculties and different batches participated in the project with seniors passing on the expertise to the new students. Now their satellite is being launched along with ISRO's satellite CartoSat-2C from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Director of COEP, BB Ahuja said, the utility of the satellite will be to ensure that end-to-end communication is established even in the remotest of places. <br/><br/>Students involved in the project said that the satellite weighs less than 1,000 grams and hence, is termed as Pico satellite. Also, since the satellite aligns itself with the magnetic fied on its own, it is named as Swayam. The satellite uses the magnetic field of the earth to stabilize the satellite after the launch. This technology is unique and will be used for the first time in the country. Second project of COEP has also been approved by ISRO. Though currently unnamed, it is said that the project will be powered by solar energy and will be three times the current size of the satellite.