Anusat launch early April

India's national newspaper The Hindi reports that the amateur communication satellite Anusat could be launched in the first week of April.

It is understood that Anusat will carry a digital store and forward Amateur Radio payload. The Hindi report dated March 19, 2009 says:

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to put in orbit Israeli satellite RISAT in the first week of April.

The vehicle integration has already begun at the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The launch campaign is gathering speed.

The vehicle, PSLV-C12, will also deploy a mini-satellite called Anusat, built by Anna University, Chennai.

RISAT is a radar-imaging satellite used for remote-sensing. It can take pictures of the earth 24 hours of the day, through rain and cloud. The satellite has already reached Sriharikota from Israel.

Anusat, an amateur communications satellite weighing
38 kg, was integrated at the Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai, of Anna University.

It is undergoing tests at the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. It will reach Sriharikota soon. Its integration helped the students to get a hands-on experience in understanding the complexities in building a satellite.

Read the full report - ISRO gearing up to put Israeli satellite in orbit - at
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/19/stories/
2009031961121300.htm

ISRO to launch a breakthrough satellite
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/
february2009/anusat.htm

From March 2005 - Indian amateur satellite due for launch
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/mar2005/
indian_satellites.htm