India launches 9 satellites onboard PSLV rocket

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Saturday launched earth observation satellite EOS-06 and eight nano-satellites into their intended Sun-synchronous polar orbits onboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C54) rocket, officials said.

The PSLV-C54/EOS-06 mission was launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) in Sriharikota, off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh at 11:56 a.m. local time.

“I am really happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the PSLV-C54/EOS-06 mission,” ISRO Chairman S. Somnath said. “We also observed that the performance of the rocket in this mission in all its stages and functions were exceedingly good.”

The satellite launch was broadcast live from the space centre. It was the 56th flight of PSLV, and reportedly the last mission was undertaken by the Indian space agency this year.

The 1,117-kg EOS-06 payloads include an ocean monitor, sea surface monitor, Ku-band Scatterometer, and ARGOS, a French payload meant to reinforce the existing fleet of Indo-French satellites working on weather surveillance.

The customer payloads include ISRO nano-satellite-2 for Bhutan (INS-2B), which will have two payloads namely NanoMx and APRS-Digipeater. NanoMx is a multispectral optical imaging payload. (Xinhua)