India Lifts off PSLV-C23

India passed another milestone in space research, by successfully lifting off the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C23 on Monday from the Sriharikota space station of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the launch at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The Launch vehicle carries five foreign satellites: SPOT-7, a 714 kg, French earth observing satellite as the main payload, which will be injected into a 655 km Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO); 14 kg AISAT of Germany, NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) & NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) of Canada each weighing 15 kg and the 7 kg VELOX-1 of Singapore.

The launch vehicle has a height of 44.4 meters and vehicle lift-off mass of 230 tonne.

These five satellites are being launched under commercial arrangements that ANTRIX, ISRO’s commercial arm, has entered into with the respective foreign agencies.

The other countries which had sent their satellites through PSLV include UK, Denmark, Austria, France, Singapore, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, Belgium, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Argentina, The Netherlands, Algeria and Luxembourg.

Speaking after the launch, Modi said that the launch is a “global endorsement of India’s space capability”. He said, “Congratulations to everybody. I feel specially privileged to witness this event in person”.

interactive editor