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CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch an Israeli satellite, called Polaris, through a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in August from Sriharikota. The satellite, weighing 300 kg, can take pictures of the earth through cloud and rain, 24 hours of the day. Informed sources said the Israelis wanted a "core-alone" configuration of the PSLV to put Polaris in orbit and the launch in August. In the core-alone vehicle, the six strap-on booster motors are not used. The core-alone PSLV weighs 230 tonnes.

ISRO will also fly an ultra-violet astronomy telescope from Israel on board ISRO's GSAT-4 that will be launched by the indigenous GSLV (Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) from Sriharikota. The ultra-violet astronomy telescope is called TAUVEX (Tel Aviv University Ultra-violet Experiment.)

Antrix Corporation has also won a contract for ISRO to put in orbit a cluster of six micro satellites from Canada. These six micro-satellites totally weigh 26 kg. A PSLV core-alone configuration will again be used to put these satellites in orbit. They will ride piggyback on ISRO's Cartosat-2A, which will be used for mapping purposes.

Agile satellite is also working well. Signals from it have been acquired by the Italian Space Agency's ground station at Malindi in Kenya. It had now been placed in a sun-pointing mode.