India's PSLV-C20 Successfully Launched

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C20 was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, India.

PSLV-C20, carrying seven satellites including Indo-French satellite SARAL, blasted off from the first launch pad at 6:01 p.m. local time (7:31 a.m. EST). The other six satellites include two from Austria, two from Canada, and one each from Britain and Denmark. About 22 minutes later, the satellites were placed into orbit. It was the 101st space mission and the consecutive 22nd PSLV mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), according to a report by The Hindu, an Indian newspaper.

Indo-French satellite SARAL stands for Satellite for Argos-3 and Altika. The satellite, which weighs slightly more than 900 pounds (410 kilograms), has three payloads including Argos-3 and Altika. While these two payloads are from the French space agency CNES, the third one - a solid state C-band transponder - is from the ISRO. The satellite will help in oceanographic studies.

The other six satellites include SAPPHIRE and NEOSSAT from Canada, AAUSAT-3 from Denmark, STRand-1 from the U.K., and two of the smallest-ever astronomical satellites - BRITE and UniBRITE - from Austria. The nano-satellites will observe the brightest stars in the night sky and also study the changes in their brightness over time.

The launch mission of the PSLV rocket was witnessed by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.

"I congratulate the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for successfully executing this Mission. I am confident that the SARAL spacecraft launched today would function as planned and perform as designed and serve the intended applications in Ocean Topography, Coastal Altimetry, Ocean currents monitoring and Animal migration studies worldwide," the President said in his speech at the launch of the PSLV-C20 mission.

"The PSLV has become a household name in our country and this mission would only reaffirm this position through its efficacy, accuracy and reliability of this launch vehicle."

India's space programs began in the early 1960s. Since then, ISRO has successfully launched various satellites for communication services and for the management of natural resources. The country's first lunar mission, called Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008. Chandrayaan-1 found evidence of water on the moon's surface.

The space agency is also planning several space missions for this year, including its first mission to Mars. Speaking at the Parliament during a budget session, Indian President Mukherjee announced last week that the Mars orbiter will be launched in October from the southeastern coast and be placed into the orbit in September next year. The satellite will study the reasons for Mars' loss of atmosphere and also look for signs of life.