On July 10, 2015 at 16:28 UTC the PSLV-C28 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket-carrier was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island, India's primary launch site on the country's east coast. The rocket orbited five satellites made in Britain. The five satellites weighed 1,440 kilograms — the heaviest commercial package ever launched on a PSLV. The payload included three Earth observation satellites for the British-owned, Chinese-leased DMC3 constellation, plus a technology demo craft for Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. based in Guildford, England as well as a CubeSat named DeorbitSail. British scientists at the Surrey Space Center at the University of Surrey built DeorbitSail, which will unfurl a 16 square meter Kapton sail to test the device’s ability to bring a satellite down from orbit. Attachments: |