ISRO successfully launched an earth observation satellite.
ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisaton) has successfully launched its latest earth observation satellite (EOS-01), as well as nine satellites from customer nations, on board the PSLV-C49 launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota on Saturday evening.
This is the national space agency's first launch since a nationwide coronavirus lockdown was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 23.
The launch took place at 3.12 PM after a 26-hour countdown. The launch was delayed by 10 minutes due to debris in the flight path, ISRO sources told news agency PTI.
At 3.28 pm ISRO tweeted that the satellite had successfully separated from the fourth stage of the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - the workhorse of India's programme that has now completed its 51st launch) and been injected into orbit around the planet.
#EOS01 successfully separated from fourth stage of #PSLVC49 and injected into orbit#ISROpic.twitter.com/2u5jBPGNQD
— ISRO (@isro) November 7, 2020
According to ISRO, EOS-01 is an earth observation satellite intended for use in supporting agriculture, forestry and disaster management planning.
The customer satellites, which have been launched under a commercial agreement with NewIndia Space Limited (NSIL), include four from the Unitedd States that are meant for "multi-mission remote sensing".
Four of the remaining five are from Luxembourg (for maritime applications) and the other is from Lithuania (for technology demonstration).
With input from PTI
