Lauding India's ambitious space programme, The New York Times has said the country, currently witnessing an 'explosive' growth in space-tech start-ups, is set to 'transform the planet's connection to the final frontier' and can emerge as a 'counterweight' to China.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to make its maiden commercial launch of 36 broadband communication satellites on board the space agency's heaviest rocket LVM3-M2, the countdown for which began early on Saturday at Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday faced a blip in its plan to tap the small satellite launch vehicle market, as an anomaly in the placing of the satellites by the rocket led to deviation on its path thereby becoming 'no longer usable', Chairman S Somanath said on Sunday.
India on Monday successfully launched five foreign satellites from four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket which placed them in orbit, an achievement described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an 'endorsement' of the country's space capabilities.
This would be the 44th flight of the PSLV and the third launch by ISRO this year.
In its first multi-orbital launch, India's workhorse PSLV will on Monday inject eight different satellites, including the country's weather satellite SCATSAT-1 and five from other nations, into two different orbits.
'Today, when we talk of success of PSLV and GSLV Mk III, we owe it to important inputs that the Prof. Narasimha committee gave'
"I am really grateful to the entire ISRO family for having worked this hard and making IRNSS-1I a success," said the space centre's chief K Sivan.
The successful orbiting of the satellites by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV C-40 comes four months after the Indian space Research Organisation's mission to launch backup navigation spacecraft IRNSS-1H onboard PSLV-39 ended in a rare failure.
There was, however, no official word from the country's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru.
The primary goal of HysIS, whose mission life is five years, is to study the earth's surface in visible near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The polar satellite launch vehicle-C42 launch vehicle carrying the two satellites blasted off from the first launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 10.08 pm.
The ISRO team worked tirelessly to make the Mars mission a success
PSLV C-35, carrying India's SCATSAT-1 meant for ocean and weather studies and seven other satellites including from the United States and Canada, on Monday lifted off from the spaceport in Sriharikota.
ISRO's first mission in 2023 and SSLV's sequel saw a strange coincidence--it was launched at 9.18 am, the same time its predecessor lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here on August 7, 2022 but could not deliver due to orbit anomaly and flight path deviation.
Noting that the PSLV was a versatile launch vehicle which can do different jobs and put satellites in different orbits, he said streamlining of this operation with improved capabilities is on.
A S Kiran Kumar, chief of ISRO, said the mission was unsuccessful because the satellite housed within the heat sink could not be injected.
In a textbook mission, ISRO's PSLV-C32 lifted off from Sriharikota and later injected the IRNSS-IF in sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
In Budget 2020-21, the Department of Space has been allocated Rs 13,949.09 crore, of which Rs 8,228.63 crore has been earmarked for capital expenditure.
The launch of the crewed space mission, Gaganyaan, is being planned before the next Independence Day and this will be proceeded by two uncrewed missions, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Military use apart, the new satellite would be useful for urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management and various related applications.
Heralding a new era, India on Friday night launched its heaviest commercial space mission ever with its polar rocket successfully putting five British satellites into the intended orbit after a flawless takeoff.
Bharti Group-backed OneWeb on Monday said it has entered an arrangement with the commercial arm of ISRO, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), to launch its satellite in India from 2022.
The announcement comes two days ahead of the proposed historic launch of the ISRO's 100th satellite along with 30 others in a single mission from Sriharikota.
The space agency has set 2020 as the deadline for the first privately built rocket to be launched into space.
He also said it may be adopted for use in every stage of a rocket. He was speaking at the 16th convocation of SRM Institute of Science and Technology, near Chennai.
The Indian space agency has already begun work on the third generation of the earth observation satellite -- the first of which will be ready by 2018 and boost the capability to generate digital maps.
ISRO launched 12 Indian, 22 foreign satellites and successfully flight-tested India's first winged-body aerospace vehicle.
"It is going to be the most complex mission ever undertaken by ISRO. It is going to take place between July 9 and 16, this year," Sivan said, addressing scientists from the Mission Control Centre.
The ISRO is strengthening 'eye in the sky', which helped the Indian army carry out surgical strikes last year, with the launch.
The ISRO spy case is dead. And yet, not dead.
In a boost for the country's surveillance capabilities to monitor activities of both military warships and merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the 'Sindhu Netra' satellite developed by a team of young scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was successfully deployed in space on Sunday.
"Indeed, a satisfying feeling," K Radhakrishnan who as the then Chairman of Indian Space Research Oranisation (ISRO) led the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) team said on achieving the milestone.
The 2,268-kg GISAT-1 was originally slated to be launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district, about 100 kms north of Chennai, on March 5 last year but was postponed a day before the blast-off due to technical reasons.
Veteran space scientist G Madhavan Nair said on Tuesday that Indian Space Research Organisation's unsuccessful bid to soft land on the moon is nothing to be alarmed about, and it would only enable the space agency master complex missions going forward.
Indo-French satellite 'SARAL', aimed at oceanographic studies, would be launched along with a mix of six foreign mini and micro satellites on board PSLV-C20 from the spaceport of Sriharikota on February 25.
With the launch of GSLV-MK III, slated for April, it will be able to cater to bigger satellites as well.
The heaviest rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation -- LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 -- blasted off from the Sriharikota spaceport on Sunday to place 36 broadband communication satellites into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for a UK-based customer.
A US court has asked Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation, to pay a compensation of USD 1.2 billion to a Bengaluru-based startup, Devas Multimedia, for cancelling a satellite deal in 2005.
ISRO sources said that with Sunday's mission, the agency has launched 62 satellites, one space recovery module and 37 rockets, making it a grand 100
