ISRO: The Cartosat 3 satellite and 13 others from the US were launched this morning
The heavy-lift rocket PSLV-C47 carrying 14 satellites - one from India and 13 from the US - blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh this morning. With this, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hit a milestone of launching over 300 foreign satellites, news agency IANS reported. The Cartosat-3 is an agile satellite that can take high-resolution photos of the Earth. It was placed into orbit 509 km from the Earth, the ISRO said. The mission life of Cartosat-3 is five years.
The cargo includes 13 commercial nanosatellites from the US, which the space agency agreed to launch under a deal with NewSpace India Limited, ISRO said on its website. All the 13 nanosatellites were also put into orbit, according to ISRO.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan sat among the space agency's scientists inside the control room as he monitored the flight of the rocket.
"I am extremely happy to declare that PSLV-C47 precisely injected Cartosat-3 and 13 customer satellites successfully in the desired orbit of 509 km," Mr Sivan said. "Cartosat-3 is India's highest resolution civilian satellite, and the most complex and advanced earth observation satellite ISRO has built so far," he said, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
He congratulated the teams behind the satellite as well as the launch vehicle. "Our hands are full," Mr Sivan said, with 13 missions scheduled till March 2020. "They combine some six launch vehicle missions and seven satellite missions," he said.
This was the 21st flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in "XL" configuration - with six solid strap-on motors, according to ISRO, and was the 74th launch vehicle mission from the space centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The Cartosat-3 Earth-imaging satellite, which weighs a little over 1,600 kg, will help its users in planning for large-scale urban projects, rural resource and infrastructure development and keeping track of coastal and land cover.
Among the 13 nanosatellites from the US is Flock-4P, which will map the Earth.
Today's launch came months after ISRO sent a mission to the moon - Chandrayaan 2 - which did not go as planned in the final stages of the mission.
The ISRO's 44-metre-tall PSLV has put into orbit 297 foreign satellites so far, and with today's launch the 300 mark has been crossed, IANS reported.
With inputs from agencies