[SatNews] The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch the Resourcesat-2 advanced remote sensing satellite via a locally-manufactured PSLV rocket in January of next year.

The space agency held a mission readiness review in the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh, during which ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan and top ISRO officials were in attendance. The standard PSLV-C16 launch vehicle, with six strap-on boosters, would carry Resourcesat-2, auxiliary spacecraft of Youthsat and X-sat. Resourcesat-2 is a follow on mission to Resourcesat-1 to provide data continuity. Resourcesat-1, launched in October 2003, has outlived its designed mission life of five years but continues to working satisfactorily, ISRO sources said. Youthsat, a microsatellite, is a participatory scientific mission with a payload from Russia and two from India. It is a micro satellite carrying scientific payloads. X-sat is Singapore's first indigenous satellite. GSLV would carry on board GSAT-5P, an exclusive C-band communication satellite with a designed mission life of 12 years.