The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched two British satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Sunday evening for which India will earn upto Rs 200 Crore. India’s workhorse rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is on its 44th mission and a lighter version of the PSLV is being used.
ISRO launches PSLV-C42 into orbit carrying two foreign satellites, NovaSAR & S1-4, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in #AndhraPradesh. pic.twitter.com/CB1xBbPfXs
— ANI (@ANI) September 16, 2018
The two earth observation satellites have been developed by Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited (SSTL), the United Kingdom under commercial arrangement with Antrix Corporation Limited, Department of Space.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the space scientists for the successful launch and tweeted, “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.”
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. @isro
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 16, 2018
Both the British satellites that weigh around 889 kgs, were launched into a 583 km Sun Synchronous Orbit.
NovaSAR is a S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite intended for forest mapping, land use & ice cover monitoring, flood & disaster monitoring. S1-4 is a high resolution Optical Earth Observation Satellite, used for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and for the disaster monitoring