ISRO launches 100th mission; PSLV rocket lifts off successfully
SRIHARIKOTA, SEPT. 9:
The 100th Indian space mission was a grand success with an Indian rocket blasting off carrying two foreign satellites from the Sriharikota range.
On a cloudy Sunday morning, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C21 (PSLV-C21) carrying two satellites blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
At 9.51 a.m., the PSLV-C21, which is 44 m tall and weighs 230 tonne, launched the French earth observation satellite SPOT 6 along with a micro-satellite from Japan in to a 635 km polar orbit. PSLV-C21 is the eighth flight of PSLV in 'core-alone' configuration (without solid strap-on motors).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh witnessed the launch of the historic 100th mission of the Indian space agency at Indian Space Research Organisation's rocket mission control room at the picturesque Sriharikota range, located about 80 km north of Chennai in Andhra Pradesh.
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 kg.
SPOT 6 is a French Earth Observation Satellite capable of imaging the earth with a resolution of 1.5 metre. This latest optical remote sensing satellite is built by Astrium SAS, a leading European space technology company. On the other hand, Proiteres 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.
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