Chennai: India’s national space agency ISRO on Monday launched five satellites from four countries from the spaceport of Sriharikota in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing the scientists at Sriharikota Space Center, PM Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists for the successfull launch. He said, “I feel specially privileged to witness this event in person.
This is a global endorsement of India’s space capability, said PM after the successful launch of an Indian rocket that carried five foreign satellites. Filled with pride over PSLV-C23’s successful launch, Modi said, “The event fills every Indian’s heart with joy and pride”.
Stressing that space technology is for the common man and not just for the elite; PM Modi urged Indian space scientists to develop a satellite for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations.
Modi also urged the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to expand the footprint of its navigation systems to all of South Asia. He said the Indian navigation system will be in place by 2015.
Besides Modi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu also witnessed the launch from the Sriharikota spaceport, about 100 kilometres from Chennai.
Though the Mission Readiness Review Committee and Launch Authorisation Board had on Friday cleared the launch, the launch time was rescheduled to 9.52 AM today, a delay of three minutes, attributed to probable space debris coming in the rocket’s way.
Germany’s AISAT satellite would focus on the global sea-traffic monitoring system with special emphasis on high traffic zones using AIS signals. It is also Germany’s first DLR satellite in the nano-satellite class.
NLS 7.1 and NLS 7.2 are from the University of Toronto, Institute of Aerospace Studies/ Space Flight Laboratory in Canada. Both payloads would perform Two-spacecraft precision formation flying using differential GPS with centimetre-level relative position and sub-metre level accurate position control system.
Satellite VELOX-1 from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is a technology demonstrator for in-house design of image sensor, MEMS-based attitude determination and control system and inter-satellite RF link.
ISRO has so far launched 35 satellites from 19 countries around the globe — Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey and United Kingdom, bringing a huge sum to the country as foreign exchange.
Bureau Report
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