India will launch its earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series weighing 712 kg and 30 co-passenger satellites (29 foreign, one Indian) with its rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Friday, the Indian space agency announced today.

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the PSLV rocket’s XL variant is expected to lift off on Friday morning at 9.29 a.m. from the Sriharikota rocket port.

The 30 satellites will together weigh 243 kg and the total weight of all the 31 satellites-including Cartosat- is about 955 kg, ISRO said.

The rocket will sling the satellites into a 505 km polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO).

The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries namely, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, United Kingdom, and United States of America as well as one nano satellite from India.

The 29 international customer nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited-the commercial arm of ISRO- and the international customers.