India's workhorse satellite launch vehicle, the PSLV- C16, successfully kept its date with deep space blasting off at the appointed time of 10.12 a.m. from the spaceport at Sriharikota here today.

This is the 17th consecutive successful launch of the vehicle.

Carrying three satellites, Resourcesat-2, Youthsat and X-Sat, the launch vehicle took off blazing an orange trail in a clear summer sky to loud cheers from scientists and other dignitaries assembled to witness the launch.

Even as the sonic boom created by the rocket breaking the sound barrier travelled 8 km across from the launch pad to where this correspondent was witnessing the launch from, the first stage had already separated from the vehicle.

Eighteen minutes from launch, the rocket had soared 822 km into the atmosphere and ejected the three satellites in their appointed slots.

‘Precise placement'

“One of the most precise placements,” gushed an official as a round of applause rung out across the Mission Control Room even as the ISRO Chairman, Dr Radhakrishnan Nair, joined his hands in a silent prayer of thanks for the successful mission.

Soon after, Dr Nair addressed the scientists and others gathered in the Mission Control Room congratulating them on a copybook launch.

Addressing a press conference later, Dr Nair said that the target was to place the satellites in a polar sun-synchronous orbit of 820 km with a possible dispersion of 20 km either side. As it happened, the launch vehicle had ejected the satellite at 822 km.

The main payload Resourcesat-2, will replace the earlier version launched in 2003 which incidentally, is still functioning. The satellite will be used for remote sensing applications in agriculture, forestry, monitoring snow cover, glaciers and coastal mapping.

Youthsat, X-Sat

The Youthsat is an Indo-Russian joint venture for solar and atmospheric applications while the X-Sat is a microsatellite for imaging applications built by the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

ISRO has launched this satellite on a commercial basis but Dr Nair would not divulge the revenue earned from this launch.

All the three satellites are functioning “extremely well” according to Dr T. K. Alex, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, and the solar panels have been deployed successfully.

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