IANS

Chennai, Apr 23: The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), a trusted workhorse of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is ready for the nation's maiden commercial launch on Monday when it will put Italian satellite AGILE into the orbit.

This the 11th time that the PSLV is being launched and this time its C8 rocket will place the Italian astronomical satellite in a circular orbit exactly 22 minutes after its lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, 120 km north of here in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, around 3.30 pm.

While this is the Indian space agency's first commercial launch, it has already placed six payloads from Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia and South Korea into orbit. PSLV C8's predecessors, however, carried a principal indigenous payload too - almost all of them remote sensing Indian satellites.

AGILE, an x-ray and gamma ray astronomical satellite of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) is the sole payload this time.  

ISRO is said to be charging international commercial rates for the effort, which has been networked by Cosmos International of Germany in conjunction with ISRO's business venture, Antrix Corporation.

The 352-kg AGILE will settle on a 550-km circular orbit inclined at an angle of 2.5 degrees to the equator.

For the first time, India's Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), weighing 185 kg, will be tested which will consist of next generation computers, navigation and telemetry systems.

The Dual Launch Adapter (DLA) - a mechanism that enables comfortable positioning of multiple payloads - which was part of PSLV C7 will be used to carry AGILE and AAM. The Italian satellite mounted on the DLA encompasses the AAM.

The Italian Space Agency hopes to study distant celestial objects through AGILE to comprehend the origins of the universe.