India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C23) successfully put on 30th June five satellites from abroad into their perfect orbits. This was the 27th PSLV launch and of these 27 lift-offs, 26 have been successful in a row, demonstrating what a reliable and robust launch vehicle the PSLV is.
It was a dedicated commercial launch in which the PSLV put into orbit SPOT satellite from France, AISAT from Germany, NLS7.1 and NLS7.2, both from Canada, and VELOX-1 from Singapore. Antrix, the commercial wing of the Department of Space, will be charging a fee for putting each of these satellites into orbit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the launch from the Mission Control Centre (MCC) at the spaceport at Sriharikota.
About ISRO PSLV-C23 :
1. The PSLV-C23 carried a 714 kg French Earth Observation Satellite SPOT-7 as its main payload while a 14 kg satellite called AISAT of Germany, two 15 kg satellites from Canada CAN-X4 and CAN-X5 and seven kg Singapore satellite called VELOX-1 as piggy back payload on the flight.
2. The five satellites were launched under commercial arrangements that ANTRIX (ISRO’s commercial arm) entered with foreign agencies.
3. The commercial launch comes nearly 16 months after ISRO launched six small foreign satellites on board the PSLV C-20 in February 2013.
4. ISRO has so far put 35 foreign satellites in space on the PSLV on the basis of commercial agreements with other countries.
5. The space agency is banking on the realization of its GSLV heavy lift rocket program over the next couple of years to get into the big league of launching heavy communication satellites weighing more than 2000 kg.
