The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the advanced earth observation and mapping satellite CARTOSAT-3 along with 13 other commercial nano-satellites from the US on Wednesday.

The space agency launched CARTOSAT-3 satellite, ninth in the series, from the second launch pad at the spaceport of Sriharikota, about 120 km from Chennai on November 27 at 09.28 am.

"Launch is scheduled at 0928 hrs IST on November 27, 2019," ISRO said in its update on Tuesday.

PSLV-C47 on its 49th mission would carry CARTOSAT-3 along with 13 commercial nano-satellites from the United States. CARTOSAT-3 is a third-generation agile advanced satellite having high-resolution imaging capability.

CARTOSAT-3 MISSION DETAILS

The CARTOSAT-3, which has an overall mass of over 1,600 kilograms, will address the increased users' demands for large-scale urban planning, rural resource, and infrastructure development, coastal land use, and land over, reported news agency PTI.

Meanwhile, 13 other commercial nano-satellites from the United States are also being carried as part of the commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.

Among the 13 nano-satellites are FLOCK-4P, 12 in numbers, with mission objective of earth observation, and one satellite named MESHBED, whose mission objective is a communication testbed.

ISRO said Wednesday's launch would be the 74th launch vehicle mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The mission life of CARTOSAT-3 would be for five years.

The launch of CARTOSAT-3 and 13 other commercial nano-satellites follows ISRO's moon mission Chandrayaan-2 on July 22, which failed to manage a soft landing on the moon, and would have been the country's first had it been successful.