The eight nanosatellites include ISRO Nano Satellite-2 for Bhutan (INS-2B), Anand, Astrocast (four satellites), and two Thybolt satellites.
The upcoming flight comes close on the heels of the launch of Vikram-S (a sub-orbital launch vehicle from Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace), the first rocket built by a private company in India, on November 18.
According to the space agency, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C54) launched the satellites at 11.56 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The EOS-6 is a third-generation satellite in the Oceansat series of satellites.
This is to provide continuity services for Oceansat-2 spacecraft with enhanced payload specifications as well as application areas. The payloads are Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM-3), Sea Surface Temperature Monitor and Ku-Band Scatterometer (SCAT-3), and 'ARGOS' Mission.
Satellite Anand is manufactured by Bengaluru-headquartered space tech startup Pixxel. It took more than two years for the company to make its third hyperspectral satellite. 'Anand' satellite is a technology demonstrator to demonstrate the capabilities and commercial applications of miniaturised earth-observation camera for earth observation using a microsatellite in Low Earth Orbit.
INS-2B (BhutanSat) will have two payloads -- NanoMx and APRS-Digipeater. NanoMx is a multispectral optical imaging payload developed by Space Applications Centre. APRS-Digipeater payload is jointly developed by the Department of Information Technology and Telecom, Bhutan, and the U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru.
The Thybolt spacecraft includes a communication payload to enable rapid technology demonstration and constellation development for multiple users. It also demonstrates Store-and-Forward functionality for authorised users in the amateur frequency band.
ISRO said that "The satellites shall be deployed by using Dhruva Space Orbital Deployer to perform the specific mission operations for a minimum lifetime of one year".
