India Wednesday successfully put six Singapore satellites into orbit after a perfect launch of its polar rocket in its landmark 50th space mission from here that also gave a boost to its space busines
India Wednesday successfully put six Singapore satellites into orbit after a perfect launch of its polar rocket in its landmark 50th space mission from here that also gave a boost to its space business.
The Singaporean satellites that would help the city-state gather information on disaster monitoring and urban planning were launched by Isro’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV-C29) coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and India this year.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) also scored a splendid hat-trick of exclusive commercial launches this year after the July and September missions when it launched 11 satellites, including those of United States and United Kingdom.
In a textbook launch, PSLV C-29 blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here, about 110 km from Chennai, at 6 pm and released the six satellites one by one into a 550 km circular orbit, completing the exercise about 21 minutes later.
After the rocket soared into clear evening sky at the end of the 59-hour countdown, the four stages of PSLV performed as programmed, releasing the satellites in orbit much to the jubilation of Isro scientists at the mission control centre.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Isro scientists for the successful launch, saying it was a “momentous feat”. “Our scientists at @isro accomplish another momentous feat. Congrats to them on PSLV-C29 successfully launching 6 Singapore satellites,” he tweeted.
