New Delhi: After establishing a pioneering position in the world with its game-changing space program, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has certainly made its mark as one of the front-runners in the space race.


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Now at par with and giving tough competition to its global counterparts, ISRO has a lot in its kitty to contribute to space research. With its last successful venture of launching India's heaviest rocket – the GSLV Mark-III – earlier this month, the Indian space agency today flagged off its earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites.


Launched aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C38 (PSLV) from Sriharikota at 9:29 am, the rocket's XL variant carrying the Cartosat-2 series satellite and 30 co-passenger satellites together weigh about 955 kg.


As it happened


  • Mission Director B. Jayakumar confirms separation of all 31 satellites in orbit.
  • The success of the mission as well as the success of future missions will be possible due to the gracious contributions to our space counterparts: Mission Director B. Jayakumar
  • "PSLV can carry off any mission and a huge number of satellites," says Mission Director B. Jayakumar in his address after the successful launch.
  • ISRO's PSLV-C38/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite Mission takes off for its destined orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota; lift-off declared normal.
  • Mission Director B. Jayakumar gives his authorisation to proceed with the launch, which is based on the readiness of the vehicle.
  • Propellant filling operations of Second Stage (PS2) are completed. Countdown is progressing normally.
  • The 28-hour countdown operation of PSLV-C38/Cartosat2 Series Satellite Mission started on Thursday, June 22, 2017 at 05:29 hr IST
  • This will be the seventeenth flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).
  • The Indian nano satellite 15 kg NIUSAT belongs to Nooral Islam University, Tamil Nadu. The satellite will provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications.
  • The 29 international customer nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between ISRO's commercial arm, the Antrix Corporation Ltd and the international customers.
  • The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the US as well as one Indian nano satellite.

Congratulating the Indian space agency on achieving another feat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his pride through a post on his official account on Twitter. He said, "Congratulations to ISRO on its 40th successful Polar satellite launch carrying 31 satellites from 15 countries. You make us proud!" 


Check out his tweet below: