Countdown Underway for India's Space Shot
India Launching 2, UK Satellites India's PSLV rocket is about to launch into space 2 British commercial satellites. Blastoff is scheduled for today at Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. It underscores the growing importance of India in space for both exploration and commercialization. Earth Observation Satellites The UK vehicles are earth observation satellites. They'll map ice melt, forests and land use. They'll also monitor disasters. The satellites belong to Surrey Satellite Technologies of the UK. Surrey made a commercial satellite launch arrangement with Antrix, the commercial unit of ISRO, India Space Research Organization. Satellites Focused on Global Ice Melt On Saturday, September 15, NASA launched ICESat-2, equipped with its most powerful laser. The satellite's 3 year mission is also to measure and monitor the Earth's polar ice melt, ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice.