Making history in its space odyssey, India on Sunday successfully launched its 100th mission with its workhorse PSLV-C21 placing in orbit two foreign satellites in a flawless flight from the spaceport here. The third wholly commercial launch with no Indian satellite was a textbook mission as ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle placed in orbit French spacecraft SPOT 6 and Japanese micro satellite Proiteres some 18 minutes after lift-off at 9.53 am.The lift-off was delayed by two minutes at the end of the 51-hour countdown to avoid collision with space debris. The historic mission was described as a 'spectacular success' by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who keenly watched the launch sequence at the mission control centre at Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, about 110 km from Chennai. "I warmly congratulate the Department of Space and all members of Indian Space Research Organisation fraternity for this spectacular success," he told the scientists minutes after the successful launch. Describing the mission as a milestone in the nation's space capabilities, he said the launch was 'testimony to the commercial competitiveness of the Indian space industry and is a tribute to Indian innovation and ingenuity'. A beaming ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan told the post-launch media conference that with today's successful mission the agency has launched 62 satellites, one space recovery module and 37 rockets, making it a grand 100. Each Indian rocket going up is considered a mission as also each Indian satellite being placed in orbit. The 44-metre PSLV took off on its 22nd flight, zoomed into the overcast skies carrying the French satellite with a lift-off mass of 712 kg, the heaviest ever to be launched by India for an international client, and the 15 kg Japanese micro spacecraft. The mission was a historic landmark for ISRO in its five- decade old space programme since beginning on a humble note with the launch of the indigenous 'Aryabhatta' on board a Russian rocket on April 19, 1975. PSLV yet again proved its versatility and robustness scripting its 21st successful mission in a row after its first flight in September 1993 ended in a failure. SPOT-6 is the biggest commercial lift so far since India forayed into the multi-billion dollar global commercial satellite launch market after 350 kg Agile of Italy, put in orbit in 2007 by PSLV. Twelve other foreign commercial satellites launched by ISRO weighed below 300 kg. Significantly, France's five earlier SPOT satellites were launched by European Araine rocket. SPOT-6 is an earth observation satellite, while Proiteres is intended to observe Kansai district of Japan through high-resolution camera. Radhakrishnan said the launch originally scheduled for 9.51 am was adjusted to 9.53 am following analysis of space debris for the past few days. According to American space agency NASA, over 500,000 pieces of debris or 'space junk' are tracked as they orbit the Earth. The debris, which travel at speed up to 17,500 mph, could damage a satellite or a spacecraft. Radhakrishnan declined to divulge the cost of today's mission, saying it was paid by the customers. Mission director Kunhali Krishnan termed the launch a 'grand success' and said all four stages of the rocket performed 'exceedingly well'. Source: Deccan Chronicle
