ISRO's Pioneering Mission: Rescheduled Launch of PSLV-C59

The launch of ISRO's PSLV-C59, originally set for Wednesday, was rescheduled to Thursday due to an anomaly in the PROBA-3 spacecraft. PROBA-3, featuring a unique satellite formation, aims to study the Sun's corona. The mission is a collaborative effort with the European Space Agency.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Wednesday the rescheduling of the PSLV-C59 launch to Thursday due to an 'anomaly' detected in the PROBA-3 spacecraft. Originally scheduled for a Wednesday liftoff, the mission was postponed just minutes before launch.

PROBA-3 is an innovative mission involving two satellites that will function as one, maintaining millimetric precision to study the Sun's outer atmosphere. NewSpace India Ltd, ISRO's commercial arm, secured this mission from the European Space Agency (ESA), highlighting its crucial international collaborations.

With Proba-3's goal of demonstrating precise formation flying, the two satellites, Coronagraph and Occulter, will execute an 18-minute journey to orbit. Once aligned, they will study the Sun's corona, providing crucial insights for future solar missions following the successful Aditya-L1 launch in September 2023.

(With inputs from agencies.)