Successful launching of PSLV-C16
SRIHARIKOTA: On Wednesday India’s PSLV-C16 rocket successfully launched into orbit the latest remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 that would study and help manage natural resources along with two nano satellites.
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced, “PSLV-C16 Resourcesat-2 mission is successful,” shortly after all the three satellites were injected into space one after another 822 km above earth in a text book launch.
The announcement by the ISRO chief cheered the scientists at the mission control centre who heaved a sigh of relief as they were gripped by an added anxiety following two successive failures of GSLV missions last year.
In December last year the GSLV mission failed when the homegrown GSLV F06 carrying communication satellite GSAT-5P exploded mid-air less than a minute after lift-off and fell into the Bay of Bengal.
The 1,206 kg Resourcesat-2 with a space life of five years replaces Resourcesat-1 launched in 2003 and would provide data with enhanced multispectral and spatial coverage on natural resources.
GSAT-5P, carrying 24 C-band and 12 extended C-band transponders, plunged into the sea when the destruct command was issued as the rocket veered from its flight path.
Also the GSLV-D3 mission carrying GSAT-4 had also failed in April 2010, dealing a blow to India’s space programme. It was the 17th successive mission after the failure of its maiden voyage in September 1993.
