Another milestone for Isro with 100th satellite: 10 things you should know

16 nanosatellites made by the US placed into the sun-synchronous orbit of the Earth

India on Friday launched a polar rocket with 31 satellites, including three Indian and 28 of six other nations from its spaceport in Sriharikota. The 44.4-metre tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) roared into a clear sky after a perfect lift-off at 9.29 a.m. after a 28-hour countdown. The 320-tonne rocket will eject the satellites one-by-one and deploy them into the earth's lower orbit about 17 minutes and 18 seconds after the lift-off.

Isro Chairman designate K Sivan says PSLVC40 is special for Isro since it is coming after a failure 4.5 months back.

PSLVC40 Performance was excellent and entire system perfectly. Its a green flag for high profile missions.

S Somanath, Director, LPSC says today's successful launch is a reassurance to all of us about PSLV. The previous launch failed due to a "very minor" issue.

Here's all you should know about the launch:

• For the mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) used PSLV-C40 launch vehicle, which is carrying 31 satellites, including three from India and 28 from six other countries.
• The weather observation 'Cartosat-2 Series' satellite and 29 others will be inserted into a 505-kilometre sun-synchronous orbit after about seventeen and a half minutes since its liftoff.
• This satellite is the seventh remote sensing satellite in its series and has the mission life of five years.
• Its uses include monitoring urban and rural applications, coastal land use regulation, managing services like road networks and water distribution, detecting changes in geographical features and creation of land use maps.
• The flight is the first since the setback suffered by the PSLV in August last and is set to demonstrate that the workhorse rocket is back in the game for reliable satellite launches in the low earth and polar orbits....Read more