PSLV rocket launch successful, five satellites put into orbit
By IANSSunday, July 11, 2010
SRIHARIKOTA - India’s space agency ISRO Monday successfully launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket that slung into orbit five satellites, including the advanced high resolution cartography satellite Cartosat-2B.
“I am extremely happy to say PSLV 16 was a successful flight. All the satellites were injected precisely,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said.
ISRO’s 230 tonne PSLV - standing 44 metres tall - soared towards the heavens from the spaceport here, about 80 km north of Chennai. The five satellites together weigh 819 kg.
Apart from its main cargo - the Cartosat-2B weighing 694 kg - the other satellites that the rocket put into orbit are the Algerian remote sensing satellite Alsat-2A (116 kg), two nano satellites (NLS 6.1 AISSAT-1 weighing 6.5 kg built by the University of Toronto, Canada and one kg NLS 6.2 TISAT built by University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland) and STUDSAT, a pico satellite weighing less than one kg, built jointly by students of seven engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Twenty minutes after blast off, the rocket first released Cartosat-2B followed by Alsat-2A and the three small satellites.
