ISRO launches 10 satellites in 1000 seconds

The Indian Space Reseach Organization (better known as ISRO), on Monday, April 28, 2008, successfully delivered 10 satellites into Orbit from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India using the PSLV9 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). This was the FIRST ISRO Launch vehicle to do so.

This launch had a payload of 820 kgs (approx. 1845 pounds) which is by far the BIGGEST satellite mission in the world. The closet to this record is the attempt by Russia last year with a mere 295 kgs (664 pounds) payload. The rocket weighed about 230 tonnes and stood 44 m tall. It is priced at USD 17.4 million. India became the second country in the world to achieve the difficult feat after Russia, which had put into orbit 13 satellites in April 2007.

The PSLV took off at 9:23 AM IST on Monday. 14 mins later, the 44m tall rocket first offloaded India's mapping satellite, CARTOSAT 2-A, then the experimental remote sensing satellite called as "Indian Mini Satellite." After that, within 20 seconds of each other, the rocket launched 8 nano satellites (with a combined payload of 50 kgs - 113 pounds). The first one to be dropped in the orbit was CUTE from Japan.

G Madhavan Nair, the head of ISRO said, "It's a memorable moment for ISRO. The rocket stuck to it's path without any deviation and delivered all the 10 satellites on schedule and into their intended orbit."