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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

India's PSLV launch successful

Reaffirming its workhorse tag, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) today (20-Apr-2011) completed its 17th successful mission in a row when it launched the country's remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2, along with two nano satellites from the spaceport of Sriharikota.

Eighteen minutes after lift-off the launch vehicle ejected the three satellites at their pre-determined position in what an official termed as 'one of the most precise placements'.

The rocket placed into orbit Resourcesat-2, an advanced earth observation satellite, Youthsat, the 92 kg Indo-Russian satellite for stellar and atmospheric studies, and the 106 kg X-SAT for imaging applications built by the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University.

Space scientists gathered at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre applauded every stage of the rocket's progress and its placing of three satellites into orbit.

"PSLV-C16 Resourcesat-2 mission is successful," a jubilant Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced shortly after all the three satellites were hurled into space one after another, 822 km above Earth in a text book launch.

PSLV has become "a more versatile vehicle for launching multiple satellites in polar SSOs , Low Earth Orbits and geosynchronous transfer orbit," ISRO said.

With its variant configurations, PSLV has proved its multi-payload, multi-mission capability in a single launch and its geosynchronous launch capability.

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