The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday announced that the indigenously built second ocean monitoring satellite Oceansat-2, along with six nano satellites, will be launched in August.

The ISRO told that the Oceansat-2 satellite, carrying six European nano satellites including Rubin 9.1, Rubin 9.2, Beesat, UWE-2, ITU-pSat, and SwissCube-1, will be launched on India's workhorse rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C14), from Sriharikota spaceport on the east coast of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

According to the ISRO, the Rubin 9.1 and the Rubin 9.2 are from German; the Beesat has been developed by the Technical University Berlin; the UWE-2 has been built by the University of Wuerzburg Germany; the ITU-pSat has been made by the Istanbul Technical University Turkey; and the SwissCube-1has been developed by the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne, Switzerland.

ISRO Spokesperson S. Satish told that the Oceansat-2 satellite will also carry an OCM (Ocean Colour Monitor), a Ku-band pencil beam Scatterometer, and Radio Occultation Sounder for Atomospheric studies (ROSA), which has been developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

The ISRO revealed that the 952 kg Oceansat-2 will be an in-orbit replacement to Oceansat-1, which has completed 10 years of its service. The Oceansat-2 will help in finding potential fishing zones; it will help in coastal zone studies; and it will help in enhancing knowledge and understanding about surface temperature and winds. However, the ISRO did not reveal the launch date of Oceansat-2.