The ISRO is strengthening 'eye in the sky', which helped the Indian army carry out surgical strikes last year, with the launch.
ISRO said, initially the launch was slated for 9.49 am, but now there is a 3-minute delay owing to the probability of space debris in the path of rocket.
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.
Except Pakistan, seven SAARC countries are a part of the project.
A quick recap of the Mars Orbiter Mission's major milestones on the way to Mars
The launch will be a major feat in country's space history as no exercise on this scale has been attempted before.
RESOURCESAT-2A, intended for resource monitoring, is a follow-on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively. It is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by RESOURCESAT-1 and 2.
The space agency has set 2020 as the deadline for the first privately built rocket to be launched into space.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission is slated to be launched on October 28 after a national committee of experts gave the go ahead for the Rs 450 crore ambitious venture after threadbare deliberations.
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.
As India prepares to launch its Rs 450 crore mission to Mars this year, a top space official says the country's first martian odyssey -- that has attracted some criticism -- is not just for pride but for undertaking "meaningful research".
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.
Over 32 missions -- satellites and rockets -- have been planned for the year.
The countdown began at 6.27 am for the launch on board ISRO's third generation workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 47th flight, ISRO said.
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.
'The goal seems to be that we do not invest further in our system to make our system more accurate and more reliable or more global in reach,' an ISRO source tells Shivanand Kanavi.
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.
India's successful launch of its Mars mission has been described by the mainstream American media as "technological leap" and "a symbolic coup" against China in this field.
While Team Indus had backing from Nandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata and Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, it could not even muster half of the Rs 4.5 billion it required for the mission to the moon.
India's launch preparations for the ambitious Rs 450 crore Mars orbiter mission achieved a major milestone with the successful thermo-vacuum test of the spacecraft with its payloads (scientific instruments).
GSLV-MK III, which uses a homegrown cryogenic engine, has to do at least two more launches before it begins commercial operations, report Raghu Krishnan and T E Narasimhan.
The year ended with the launch of the PSLV's 50th mission.
The RISAT-2B would replace the RISAT-2, which has been actively used by India to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids by terrorists.
Other than the Cartosat-2 series satellite, the PSLV is carrying 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America besides a nano satellite from India.
There is a huge spurt in demand to launch smaller satellites, those as light as 1 kg, with a lifespan of two to three years. But there aren't enough rockets to carry these, reports T E Narasimhan
The stage is set for the launch of India's satellite IRNSS-1D on Saturday from Sriharikota onboard workhorse PSLV-C27 that would pave the way for the country's own navigation system on par with the GPS of United States.
On the morning of February 15, ISRO will hurl into space using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle three Indian satellites and 101 small foreign satellites. No other country has ever tried to hit a century in a single mission.
Dr Rao accelerated the development of rocket technology which led to the successful launch of ASLV and PSLV satellites.
This is the first mission by the Indian Speace Research Organisation this year.
K Sivan has to hasten the effort to bring in private players into satellite and rocket building and replicate India's software success in aerospace.
India's observatory will be the fourth in space, after the Hubble, Russia's Spektr R and Suzaku of Japan.
However, some of the provisions in the draft Bill needs scrutiny, as these could scare away international investors
In the first dedicated mission of its commercial arm New Space India Limited (NSIL), the Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday successfully launched Brazil's earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 and 18 other co-passengers, including five built by students, onboard a Polar rocket from the spaceport in Sriharikota.
"ISRO has been launching at least one satellite every month, so our calender is perennially packed and at this point of time it looks difficult to launch the South Asian satellite in December. It could get delayed by a month," a senior official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the scientists saying, "with this successful launch, we will determine our own paths powered by our technology".
ISRO launched 12 Indian, 22 foreign satellites and successfully flight-tested India's first winged-body aerospace vehicle.
ISRO needs next generation launchers and new facilities to manufacture and launch them.
Once ISRO masters the technology to send humans into space, the next step will be experimenting with technologies allowing humans to live in space.
Research and markets estimated in May that the global opportunity for small and mini satellites would grow nearly one and half times to $5.32 billion by 2021
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.
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