28 April 2008
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): India 's space programme made history on 28 April 2008 with the successful launch of a $17.4 million rocket that placed in orbit 10 satellites - two Indian and eight foreign. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C9 placed in orbit an Indian cartography and a mini satellite to maintain leadership in the remote sensing domain. It also slung eight nano satellites into outer space.
"It is a memorable moment for Team ISRO. The rocket stuck to its path without any deviation and delivered all the 10 satellites in their intended orbit," said G. Madhavan Nair, head of India 's satellite agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), immediately after the launch.
The 28th April launch marked several firsts for ISRO - the first time an ISRO rocket carried 10 satellites at a time, the first time a mini satellite was designed and sent up and the first time the Indian space agency utilised the optimum capacity of the PSLV's core alone configuration.
The Rs.2 billion Cartosat-2A is the thirteenth
Indian Remote Sensing satellite. The data from the satellite will find
applications in urban and rural infrastructure development and management as
well as land and geographical information systems. The satellite carries an
advanced panchromatic camera that can take pictures with a spatial resolution of
about one metre and can cover a land strip of 9.6 km. The mini satellite
incorporates many new technologies and has miniaturised subsystems apart from
multi and high spectral cameras.
India is a world leader in the remote sensing data market and has a total of eight remote sensing satellites orbiting the earth -- IRS-1C, IRS-1D, Oceansat 1, TES, Resourcesat 1, Cartosat 1 and Cartosat 2 and Cartosat 2A.
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