It is one more successful launch of PSLV series and saw the rocket launching 1235 kg earth observation satellite, RESOURCESAT-2A. It will also have military applications though ISRO rarely comments on the matter and avoids any discussion on the subject. According to ISRO, all the checks have been completed, and the satellite has been switched on.
RESOURCESAT-2A is a continuation of the remote sensing data services to global users. ISRO also put a camera on the rocket to allow viewers catch a glimpse of the deployment of the satellite as well as the unfurling of the solar panels which generate power for the satellite. The satellite was carried atop the 44.4 meters tall and weighing 321 ton brute of a rocket. As the rocket blasted off with a deafening roar amid loud cheers from the media and scientists who were monitoring every aspect of the flight.
The countdown started 36 hours before launch and is a process which checks each and every component of the rocket and its payload. The rocket which blasted off at 10.25 a.m. from the island in the Bay of Bengal, Shriharikota slung the satellite into its precise Polar orbit.
The PSLV is an XL variant, and it has been tasked to place the RESOURCESAT-2A in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 817 kilometers above the earth. The PSLV has performed flawlessly in over 30 missions and has established a solid record as a dependable rocket which carried space hardware up to a Ton in weight to a polar orbit. The rocket has about 121 successful satellite launches which included over 79 satellites from foreign nations and 42 Indian satellites.
ISRO is also perfecting its skills in launching heavier satellites in the 3 Ton category. It has successfully mastered the science of cryogenics and has also designed its cryogenic engine after it was denied the technology by the big boys of the Space market. ISRO had to develop the motor from scratch . Incidentally, all the engines supplied by Roscosmos or the Russian Space Agency failed, and it was the Indian Cryogenic engine which performed flawlessly. India is eyeing the lucrative space launch market and is ferrying space hardware at a very economical rate, which can never be replicated by its competitors like NASA, ESA or even China.