Sriharikota, Oct 17: PSLV-C5, carrying 1360-kg satellite 'Resourcesat', zoomed into a murky sky from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here at 10.24 am today. The launch took place despite heavy downpour which started around 10 am at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Since there were no gusty winds, the launch programme was not changed.
PSLV-P5, on its eighth flight today, soared majestically into the skies like a blazing arrow carrying on board "Resourcesat-1", (IRS-P6), ISRO's most sophisticated and the heaviest satellite built so far, from this spindle-shaped island off Bay of Bengal. Since its first flight in 1993, the payload capability of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), has been progressively improved by more than 600 kg.
About 18 minutes after the lift off, the satellite is scheduled to be injected into a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO), 817 km above the earth.
It was excitement all over the Satish Dhawan Space Centre where the entire ISRO team clapped their hands, cheered and hugged each other as the 44.4 metre tall workhorse weighing 294 tonnes, soared into the skies, leaving behind thick columns of flame and fumes. The satellite will make 14 orbits a day and the life of the mission is five years.
The IRS-P6 carries three cameras with vastly improved spatial resolutions. It also carries a solid state recorder with a capacity of 120 giga bits to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to ground stations.
VVIPs who were present for the launched included Sathyavratha Mukherjee, Minister of State for Space, Ramachandraiah, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee for defence, Dr K Kasturirangan, former ISRO chairman and Rajya Sabha member and Dr U R Rao. Bureau Report