The country's space program received yet another boost, after the successful placing of remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and 4 other satellites by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at 9:22am on Monday.
The PSLV-C15 launch, which came after a 51-hour countdown at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, was described as 'perfect'. The launch vehicle placed the satellites, one of them a pico-satellite built by 7 engineering students from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, into orbit.
The successful launch tasted especially sweet since the Indian Space Research Organisation had suffered a major setback when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3) failed and fell into the Bay of Bengal on April 15 this year.
The scientists, watched by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, cheered as the perfect launch and then the successful placing of the satellites went according to the plan, meticulously worked on by the scientists.
Among the 5 satellites which were placed in orbit is an advanced remote sensing satellite built by ISRO, Cartosat-2B. This satellite is designed to augment the remote sensing data services to the users of multiple spot scene imagery with an 0.8 metre spatial resolution and a 9.6 km swath in the panchromatic.
The Studsat is a pico-satellite (very small) built by 7 engineering students from AP and Karnataka.
Apart from these, the PSLV placed the Alsat from Algeria, and 2 nano satellites, from Canada and Switzerland, into orbit.
Monday's was the PSLV's 16th consecutive successful launch in its 17 missions.
Apart from the first unsuccessful mission of PSLV-D1 on Septemer 20, 1993, success has been an unflinching ally for the PSLVs.
PSLV-D2 on 15 October 1994, PSLV-D3 on 21 March 1996, PSLV-C1 on 19 September 1997, PSLV-C2 on 26 May 1999, PSLV-C3 on 22 October 2001, PSLV-C4 on 12 September 2002, PSLV-C5 on 17 October 2003, PSLV-C6 on 5 May 2005, PSLV-C7 on 10 January 2007, PSLV-C8 on 23 April 2007, PSLV-C10 on 21 January 2008, PSLV-C9 on 28 April 2008, PSLV-C11 on 22 October 2008, PSLV-C12 on 20 April 2009, PSLV-C14 on 23 September 2009, and PSLV-C15 on 12 July 2010, were all success stories for ISRO.
Courtesy: INN News