by Playfuls Staff |
23rd April 2007
India on Monday successfully placed an Italian astronomical satellite into orbit, marking its entry into an exclusive group of nations conducting commercial space launches, officials [more] said.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the 352- kilogramme Italian satellite AGILE atop its rocket, the PSLV-C8 from the Sriharikota spaceport, located 80 kilometres north of India's southern city of Chennai.
Some 22 minutes after lift-off, the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) inserted the satellite into a 550-kilometre equatorial orbit, setting off scenes of jubilation amongst Indian and Italian scientists at Sriharikota.
The Italian satellite, costing approximately 59 million dollars, will be used to search for black holes and gather information about the origins of the universe.
Besides the AGILE, the PSLV also placed into orbit an Advanced Avionics Module (AAM), weighing 185 kilogrammes, to test advanced launch vehicle avionics systems like mission computers, navigation and telemetry systems.
With Monday's successful launch, India became one of the few countries to enter the global commercial launch market. Countries like the US, Russia, China, France and Japan offer commercial satellite launch services in a market that is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars annually.
Indian scientists said it was a moment of joy as a European country had selected the ISRO for the launch ahead of experienced players like France and Russia, which have more than 800 space missions between them.
"It is a historic moment as far as the space community is concerned. A European satellite from Italy, which will look into celestial objects, has been placed into orbit by an Indian rocket," G Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO, told reporters.
"The launch is also cost-effective and on time. This is also a remarkable entry for us in the commercial field," Nair said.
Giovanni Bignami, president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), said, "It is an extremely important achievement for our country and the entire space community.
"This marks a new beginning of a new era of collaboration among Italy, Europe and India," he added.
The ISRO did not divulge the actual costs but indicated that they were charging 30 per cent less than the international price of 15,000 to 20,000 dollars per kilogramme of payload. According to the PTI news agency, the ISRO had charged 11 million dollars for the launch.
"The cost of the launch was negotiated on a commercial basis. We have to keep confidentiality to win a market," Nair had said earlier.
The PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of the ISRO, with 10 consecutively successful flights so far.
Since its first successful launch in 1994, PSLV has launched eight Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, HAMSAT, a recoverable space capsule SRE-1 and small satellites into 550-800- kilometre-high polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO).
Capable of placing 1,500-kilogramme satellites into orbit, the 44 metre-tall PSLV rocket is also scheduled to fly India's first mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1, in 2008.
© 2007 DPA
