PSLV successfully placed Astrosat and 6 foreign satellites in the orbit

Sriharikota: In its 31 flight Indian’s workhorse launch vehicle- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - C30 successfully placed India’s Astrosat satellite apart from 6 foreign satellites including four US satellites, in the designated orbit on Monday.

Astrosat is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. This scientific satellite mission endeavours for a more detailed understanding of our universe. One of the unique features of Astrosat mission is that it enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite. The PSLV took off majestically from the first launch pad in Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota in AP at 10 am on September 28.

With a lift-off mass of about 1,513 kg, ASTROSAT was first injected into a 650 km orbit by PSLV-C30, followed by the other six satellites in the space of about three minutes. International customer satellites that piggybacked the PSLV C30 were the LAPAN-A2 of Indonesia meant for maritime surveillance using Automatic Identification System (AIS), and maritime monitoring nanosatellite from Canada, NLS-14 (Ev9), which uses 'next generation' AIS.

ISRO Chairman, A.S. Kirankumar congratulated the team involved in the mission. SHAR Director Kunhi Krishnan said “PSLV established a permanent place in the international market with this success."

The launch was witnessed by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Choudhry, who later congratulated the ISRO scientists and said the space programme was "exactly going as per our present Prime Minister's vision and plan" and what he has said in the United States yesterday.

Multi-wavelength observations of Astrosat can be further extended with co-ordinated observations using other spacecraft and ground based observations. All major astronomy Institutions and some Universities in India will participate in these observations.