The entire lift-off process of ISRO's PSLV launch is to take the satellite 2 hours and 21 minutes.
The
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV lifts off today from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The PSLV carries 31 satellites in total from countries including India and six other countries. Cartosat 2 -- a surveillance satellite that was part of
India's 100th satellite was placed into sun synchronous orbit according to ISRO.
The satellites are to be launched in two orbits which makes the mission a unique one according to scientists. The entire lift-off process along with the process of placing the satellites in two orbits is to take the satellite 2 hours and 21 minutes. The liftoff was earlier postponed by one minute after a fear of collision of space debris.
Here are the live updates of the ISRO's 100th satellite launch:
ISRO Chief Kiran Kumar to NDTV:
Good feeling to finish my term with a successful launch. PSLV has now become robust and versatile. The foreign satellites we launch help us recover some costs. Four missions including Chandrayaan 2 in the pipeline.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi congratulates ISRO
ISRO Press conference:
ISRO Chief --
PSLV completes 30 of the 31 tasks. Last time a marginal deviation led to the problem. We've made the system more robust. We've achieved putting multiple satellites in an orbit and putting satellites in multiple orbits. After 100 successes there can still be failures. The overall performance was built to take more and more complex operations.We should learn from the past mistakes. We have made rigorous changes after the failure.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, "Congratulations to team ISRO on the successful launch of its 100th satellite with Cartosat 2 Series Satellite Mission. The scientists at ISRO have made the nation proud with their successes on several occasions. They have done it again by hitting a century."
President of India, Ram Nath Kovind tweeted his congradulatory message to ISRO. "Launch of India's 100th satellite Cartosat-2, along with two co-passenger satellites as well as 28 satellites of six friendly countries, is a moment of pride for every Indian. Congratulations to ISRO team of exceptional scientists. A milestone for our country #PresidentKovind," he tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO after the PSLV-C40 launch.
Twenty-nine other smaller satellites injected into orbit by PSLV-C40: ISRO chief A S Kiran Kumar.
ISRO Chief Kiran Kumar
We are extremely happy to provide a New Year gift to the country with Cartosat 2 series and also a set of time all the customer satellites have been released and microsat will be released in an hours time after the launch vehicle brings the altitude back to 350 kilometres. So far the Cartosat performance has already been announced by the project head and is satisfactory and we will follow up on the remaining satelitte performance. This year we have a number of activities planned. The next GSLV Mark 2 is already getting assembled and is schedule for launch next month.
PSLV-C40 successfully places Cartosat-2 series satellite into sun synchronous orbit: ISRO
The launch will be said to be successful only after all the 31 satellites have been put into orbit.
Cartosat 2 has been separated and put into orbit. After which the smaller satellites will be put into orbit.
950 seconds have elapsed and 506.7 kilometers done. The forth stage engines have been set off.
The forth stage performance is normal says ISRO
The launch has the capability that allows putting the satellite into two separate orbits.
This is a four stage rocket. Three stages have now been done. The forth stage will take around two hours.
The ISRO station at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh
The liftoff was successful at 9.29 am. The process of the placing of satellite will take 2 hours and 21 minutes.
ISRO launches its 100th satellite.
The PSLV C40 will have the longest flight time of 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Last year in August, IRNSS-1H - India's first privately built satellite was launched. The launch was unsuccessful.
The 'Cartosat-2 Series' satellite launch is a follow-on mission with the primary objective of providing high resolution scene specific spot imageries, the ISRO said.
The workhorse rocket of ISRO weighs nearly 320 tonnes and stands as tall as a fifteen storey building.
The PSLV- C40 which carries the earth observation 'Cartosat 2 Series' satellite weighs 710-kg ad will be the heaviest satellite that the PSLV will carry.
This will be ISRO's 42nd mission. The PSLV - C40 will lift off with 31 passengers
The lift-off of PSLV C40 has been postponed by a minute from 9:28 am as there was fear of collision due to space debris.