The 100th Indian space mission was a grand success with an Indian rocket
blasting off carrying two foreign satellites from Sriharikota.
On a cloudy Sunday morning, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C21
(PSLV-C21) blasted off carrying two satellites from the first launch pad
at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
On the terrace of the media centre, a large contingent of media persons
cheered the entire journey of the rocket till it vanished into the
clouds.
At 9.53 a.m., the PSLV-C21, 44 metres tall and weighing 230 tonne,
launched the French earth observation satellite SPOT 6 along with a
micro-satellite from Japan into a 635-km polar orbit. PSLV-C21 is the
eighth flight of PSLV in “core-alone” configuration (without solid
strap-on motors). This is the 22nd consecutive time that a PSLV rocket
has taken a satellite.
Coming out behind the lush green trees, the rocket with orange flame in
the tail burst in to the sky amid cheers of scientists in the control
room and the media team assembled at the terrace of the launch centre.
After 18 minutes into the flight, PSLV-C21 delivered SPOT 6 and a few
seconds later Proiteres into their intended polar orbit. Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh along with Minister in Prime Minister’s Office V.
Narayanasamy witnessed the launch.
There was a two-minute delay in the launch due to impact of possible
debris in space, K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO), told newspersons later.
With a lift off of 712 kg, SPOT 6 is the heaviest satellite to be
launched by PSLV for an international customer. The Japanese
micro-satellite Proiteres, carried as an auxiliary payload, has a lift
off mass of 15 km. The cost of the rocket was Rs 90 crore. “We have
recovered the project cost,” he said without giving details.
SPOT 6 is a French Earth Observation Satellite capable of imaging the
earth with a resolution of 1.5 metre. This latest generation optical
remote sensing satellite is built by Astrium SAS, a leading European
space technology company.
Proiteres, on the other hand, is intended to study powered flight of a
small satellite by an electric thruster and observe Kansai district in
Japan with a high resolution camera.
ISRO has sent 29 foreign satellites successfully to the orbit, including
today’s launch.
The successful launch of SPOT 6 would make ISRO’s PSLV rocket a strong
contender to carry SPOT 7 planned by Astrium SAS soon, said
Radhakrishan. India has one of the largest constellations of remote
sensing satellites in the world providing imagery in a variety of
spatial resolutions ranging over a metre to 500 metre. With 12 remote
sensing/earth observation satellites orbiting in the space, India has
proved its capability in the remote sensing data market.
A cheerful Prime Minister later addressing scientists at the mission
control room said today’s “launch is a milestone in our nation’s space
capabilities”.
The launch of these satellites on board an Indian launch vehicle is
testimony to the commercial competitiveness of the Indian space industry
and is a tribute to Indian innovation and ingenuity, he said.
