The giant PSLV-C16 soared spectacularly into the sky and placed three satellites in their designated orbits on Wednesday, lifting the gloom at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) following the failure of two GSLV missions in 2010.
The launch itself went off without a hitch at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Shar, at Sriharikota in Andhara Pradesh.
Isro chairman K. Radhakrishnan summed up the mood among his colleagues: “It was a very satisfying experience as the injection (of satellites) was very precise. We will have three launches (PSLV), and are planning a flight of GSLV end of this year or early next year,” he told this newspaper.
His predecessors, Dr G. Madhavan Nair and Dr K. Kasturirangan, said the space scientists have demonstrated resilience to overcome setbacks and move ahead to provide space infrastructure.
Wednesday luanch was the 18th of the PSLV, with the last 17 being successful. The `90-crores rocket has placed 47 satellites — 26 Indian and 21 foreign — into different orbits.
Speaking to reporters after the launch, Dr Radhakrishnan, said India planned to join Nasa’s lunar mission for reaching the far side of the Moon to collect samples from there.
“We are in the planning phase for a joint mission with Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in its moon mission Moonrise to collect samples from the moon,” Dr Radhakrishnan said.
“The JPL wants Isro to build the communication module. Isro is one of the three candidates Nasa could be considering for the 2016 mission.” he said.
Dr Radhakrishnan said Isro would be launching a series satellites using the PSLV between June and December 2011.