NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sunday space scientists for the successful launch of PSLV-C42, saying it shows India's prowess in competitive space business.
The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) PSLV-C42, carrying two foreign earth satellites, took off Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh at 10.08 pm on Sunday.
"Congratulations to our space scientists! ISRO successfully launched PSLV C42, putting two UK satellites in orbit, demonstrating India's prowess in the competitive space business," the prime minister tweeted.
The ISRO today launched the NovaSAR and S1-4 earth observation satellites of U.K from the spaceport in Sriharikota and placed them in the designated orbit.
NovaSAR is intended to be used for forest mapping, land use and ice cover monitoring, flood and disaster monitoring.
S1-4 will be used for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and disaster monitoring.
In a night launch, the workhorse PSLV-C42 launch vehicle blasted off from the first launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 10.08 PM.
The PSLV injected the satellites into orbit 17 minutes and 45 seconds after lift off and placed them in a sun synchronous orbit 583 km from the earth.
ISRO chairman K Sivan said the mission was a success and congratulated the scientists.