ISRO puts Cartosat-3, 13 US nanosats into orbit

Sriharikota (AP) : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday successfully launched its most complex and advanced earth imaging satellite Cartosat-3, that would among others serve military purposes.

Cartosat-3 is a third generation agile and advanced satellite having high resolution imaging capability and its success was described as "wonderful" by ISRO chief K Sivan.

As many as 13 nano satellites from the US piggybacked India's workhorse launch vehicle PSLV, which injected Cartosat-3 and its co-satellites in a precise 509 km orbit after making a majestic liftoff from the spaceport here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded ISRO scientists for Wednesday's success, saying the advanced Cartosat-3 will augment our high-resolution imaging capability. "I heartily congratulate the entire ISRO team on yet another successful launch of PSLV-C47 carrying indigenous Cartosat-3 satellite and over a dozen nano satellites of USA. ISRO has once again made the nation proud!," he tweeted.

Post its launch, ISRO's Telemetry Tracking and Command Network in Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite. Earlier, with cloudy skies in the background, the 44.4 metre tall PSLV C47 rocket lifted off majestically at 9.28 am from the second launch pad at this spaceport.

Cartosat-3 was placed into orbit 17 minutes and 46 seconds after lift-off, in the immediate mission after Chandrayaan 2 where the lander crashed while making a soft descent on the lunar surface on September 7. "Cartosat-3 is India's highest resolution civilian satellite, and the most complex and advanced earth observation satellite ISRO has built so far," Sivan said.

All the 13 nano satellites from the US were released into the orbit at 26 minutes and 56 seconds after liftoff. Soon after the mission's success, Sivan and other scientists broke into cheers.

In his address from the Mission Control Centre, Sivan said: "I am extremely happy to declare that PSLV-C47 precisely injected Cartosat-3 and 13 customer satellites successfully in the desired orbit of 509 kms."

He congratulated the teams behind both the "wonderful" satellite as well as the launch vehicle, besides various review teams and industry partners involved in the mission. Team ISRO will "as usual" rise to the occasion and meet challenges and requirements and make every mission a "grand success," a beaming Sivan said, as relief was writ large on his face since the earlier mission Chandrayaan-2 did not yield the desired results.

Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao also lauded ISRO for its feat. It was another triumph of brilliance and hard work of our scientists, an official release quoted him as saying in Hyderabad.