The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to launch theCartoSAT-3 Earth observation satellite from India along with thirteencommercial nanosatellites from the US, today at 9.28 am IST from ISRO'slaunchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota in AndhraPradesh.

It was first scheduled to launch on 25 November but it waspostponed for reasons unknown. Registrations are now closed but 5,000 luckypeople will be able to watch it live from the Launch Viewing Gallery inSriharikota. The gallery was inaugurated on 31 March this year by the Chairmanof ISRO, Dr K Sivan, with the launch of PSLV-C45/EMISAT, which was ISRO's firstto place satellites in three different orbits in a single launch.

CartoSAT-3 is the third in a series of indigenous Earth observation satellites built by ISRO. With its highly-advanced remote sensing capability, CartoSAT-3 is a leap of advancement over its predecessor CartoSAT-2, with a wider spatial range (of view) and finer resolution (of up to 0.25 metres or 25 centimetres).

If all goes to plan, the satellite will be placed at an altitude of 509 km, at an inclination of 97.5 degrees by mid-day on 27 November.