Devi Prasad Karnik, director of public relations at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), did not characterize the change in schedule as a delay. “The earlier stated launch date of January 10 was merely tentative,” he said.

India is moving ahead with its plans to develop a multi-layered ballistic missile defense (BMD) system.

India’s space agency will kick off the new year on Jan. 10 by launching its Earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series along with 30 other foreign sats.