Andhra Pradesh, Sept. 3 -- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has begun the 27.5-hour countdown for the launch of its GSLV-F17 rocket carrying the Earth Observation Satellite-05 (EOS-05). The launch is scheduled for 2:55 am on Friday from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The countdown began at 11:25 pm on September 2.
GSLV-F17 will be the 19th flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle and is expected to place the 2,367-kg EOS-05 into a sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit at an altitude of around 36,000 km. EOS-05 is designed to provide repeated images of India and neighbouring regions. Its near-real-time imaging capability is aimed at frequent monitoring of large areas, helping track natural disasters and other rapidly developing events.
The satellite will also provide data for agriculture, forestry and water bodies, besides supporting disaster warnings and the monitoring of cyclones, cloudbursts and thunderstorms. The mission follows the unsuccessful GSLV-F10 launch in August 2021, when the Earth Observation Satellite-03 could not be placed in orbit after the rocket's cryogenic upper stage failed to ignite. The GSLV-F17 is 51.7 metres tall and has a lift-off mass of 420.5 tonnes. It is a three-stage rocket equipped with a cryogenic upper stage. The previous GSLV mission was GSLV-F16, which launched the NISAR satellite, jointly developed by ISRO and NASA, in July 2025.
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Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.