Describing the PSLV's successful 'commercial' launch as a historic moment, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair on Monday said a new era of space opportunities in the commercial field has opened up.

President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Dr Manmoham Singh had congratulated ISRO on the successful mission, he said.

Addressing a press meet after the PSLV-C-8 placed the 352-kg Italian satellite Agile into a 550 km circular orbit, he said, "We are thrilled. It is a historic moment. The fact that the ASI (Italian space agency) chose ISRO for launching their satellite shows our quality and reliability," Nair said.

India charged about USD 29,000 per KG rpt per kg (of satellite weight) for the mission from the ASI as it was a very specific mission, he said.

On India's Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), which was flown in the vehicle, he said it performed excellently.

The AAM is used to test advanced vehicle avionics systems like mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems. ISRO was confident of integrating it in future launch vehicles, he said.

"This mission puts you (India) on a totally new footing. The satellite has been acquired by our station in Kenya and the data has been got," Giovanni Bignami, President, Italian Space Agency, said.

India presented an opportunity to European countries that were interested in launching satellites.