NEW DELHI, March 28 (Xinhua) -- India will launch its latest communication satellite GSAT-6A on Thursday, a space official said Wednesday.

"The state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch GSAT-6A into space via its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota," he said.

The launch will take place around 5:00 p.m. local time on Thursday and the satellite will be put into orbit some 20 minutes later, the official added.

GSAT-6A is a powerful S-band communications satellite and the second in the so-called series, the first being the GSAT-6. It will help provide seamless mobile communication for India.

The space agency has said that the satellite's life span will be around a decade.

ISRO had in January successfully launched as many as 31 satellites in a single mission from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.

In 2017, it launched 104 satellites in a single mission. All but three of the satellites were from foreign countries, most of them from the United States.