Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh: ISRO on Saturday launched the third generation Ocean-Sat for the scientific study of oceans and monitoring of cyclones. The popular rocket PSLV-C54 of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will place it in the Earth’s orbit along with eight other nano-satellites.
The launch was done from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. This is the PSLV-XL variant of the 44.4-meter high rocket, which has the capacity to carry 321 tonnes of lift-off mass that consists of the rocket itself, the booster, the propellant, the satellites, and the equipment. This is the 24th flight of the rocket.
ISRO chairman S. Somnath said that PSLV-C54 has successfully placed the earth observation satellite in its target orbit. It was launched at the predetermined time of 11.56 am. Earth observation satellite or Oceansat successfully separated from the rocket after PSLV-C54 reached the intended orbit 17 minutes after launch. After this, it was installed in the class. The mission is being described as the last mission of ISRO for this year.
Notably, India’s first private space center Skyroot Aerospace also successfully launched its first private rocket Vikram S, a few weeks back. This is definitely India’s pride moment in terms of space research achievements. ISRO also congratulated them on the successful launch of their first satellite. A video of the launch event of the PSLV- C54 was shared by the ISRO officials on their social media handles.