Sriharikota: India's Polar rocket PSLV C-51 carrying Amazonia-1 of Brazil and 18 other satellites blasted off from the spaceport in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota on Sunday.
At the end of a nearly -26hour countdown, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C51 lifted off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), over 100 km from Chennai, making it the first mission of the year for ISRO.
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Amazonia-1, the primary satellite, has been successfully injected into orbit about 18 minutes after lift-off while the18 co-passenger payloads would be launched over the next two hours.
The 53rd Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch took place as planned at 10.24 am, carrying Brazil's 637-kg Amazonia-1, an optical earth observation satellite, as its primary passenger. This satellite would help in providing remote sensing data over deforestation in the Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.
The 18 co-passengers include four of IN-SPACe and 14 of ISRO's commercial arm, NewSpace India (NSIL). These co-passenger satellites include Satish Dhawan Sat (SD SAT) from Chennai-based Space Kidz India (SKI). A picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been engraved on the top panel of this spacecraft.
"This is to show solidarity and gratitude for his (PM's) Aatmanirbhar initiative and space privatisation", said SKI, which is also sending up "Bhagavad Gita" in SD (secured digital) card.
Today's launch was originally scheduled to carry 20 satellites but two of them were cancelled due to technical reasons.
The ISRO is lining up its geo-imaging satellite GISAT-1 next. This launch, using a GSLV-F10 rocket, was originally planned to happen on March 5 last year but it was postponed a day before the blast-off.
According to ISRO officials, The 2,268 kg GISAT-1 is the first state-of-the-art agile earth observation satellite that will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10.
(With inputs from agencies)