On January 12, 2018, Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSL-C40 successfully lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO’s 100th Satellite Launch:
PSLV-C40 carried total 31 satellites, out of which three were Indian satellites and 28 satellites from six other countries.
- 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite, the primary satellite carried by PSLV-C40 marked ISRO’s 100th satellite launch. It is a remote sensing satellite and has a similar configuration to earlier satellites in the series.
- Cartosat-2 Series is the seventh remote sensing satellite in its series and has the mission life of 5 years. It is intended to augment data services to the users.
Satellites launched onboard PSLV-C40:
28 foreign satellites that were launched along with 3 Indian satellites onboard PSLV-C40 belonged to six countries – Canada, France, Finland, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom and the United States.
- Launching these satellites is a part of commercial arrangements between Government of India’s Antrix Corporation Limited and foreign customers.
- The total weight of all the 31 satellites carried on board the PSLV-C40 was approximately 1323 kg.
- PSLV rocket weighs nearly 320 tonnes and is 44.4 meters tall.
- Successful launch of PSLV-C40 proved to be morale booster for ISRO as it is not only the first mission of year 2018, but it comes after a failed mission in August 2017 to launch backup navigation spacecraft IRNSS-1H onboard PSLV-39.
- Besides, this was the final mission of A S Kiran Kumar as the chairman of ISRO. He will be succeeded by renowned rocket scientist K. Sivan.
Quick Facts about ISRO:
- Established in – 1969
- Headquarters – Bengaluru, Karnataka
- Current Chairman – A S Kiran Kumar
- Next Chairman – K. Sivan
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