It was a perfect evening for another successful 'text book' launch of a satellite by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
As the Sun was going down, ISRO's reliable power horse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C27 carrying navigation satellite IRNSS-1D roared on to the clear blue sky in the Bay of Bengal in the East precisely at 5.19 pm from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 90 km from Chennai.
There were two firsts in the launch. It was the first launch for the new ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar who took charge on January 1 and first launch for ISRO this year.
The launch of IRNSS-1D was originally scheduled for launch on March 9 but was deferred after an anomaly was found in one of the telemetry transmitters, which was rectified.
A delighted ISRO Chairman told scientists in the Mission Control Room that today's successful launch of PSLV only shows that the launch vehicle has come of age over the years, and the manner in which it went through. This is despite earlier hiccup (on March 9) that led to the postponement of the launch.
“The IRNSS-1D satellite is put into orbit," he said.
The satellite is the fourth in the series of seven navigation satellites that the space agency is planning to launch to put in place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The first three satellites in the IRNSS series were launched from Sriharikota on July 1, 2013, April 4 and October 16 last year respectively.
The system would provide two types of services — Standard Positioning Service, which is provided to all the users, and Restricted Service that is an encrypted service provided only to authorised users.
The indigenously developed IRNSS is designed to provide accurate position information services to users in the country as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.
On ISRO being conferred with the Gandhi Peace Prize, Kumar said it a recognition of ISRO’s work to bring benefit to the people on space technology. The nation has given a great responsibility to ISRO, which will continue to develop technology to solve society's problems and in building the country.
A senior ISRO official said that the next rocket will be in June when India will put into orbit an UK satellite. This will be followed by next PSLV launch to put the 5th navigation satellite in to the orbit.