MUMBAI: India launched its 100th satellite, on Friday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to project the country as a global low-cost provider of services in space.
“The launch of the 100th satellite by @isro signifies both its glorious achievements and also the bright future of India’s space program,” Modi said on Twitter.
The launch of the 100th satellite by @isro signifies both its glorious achievements, and also the bright future of India’s space programme.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 12, 2018
Modi’s government has been promoting a domestic space program as a demonstration of low-cost technology and last February launched 104 satellites in a single mission, most of them for foreign customers.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) used its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40), part of an advanced remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2 series or “eye in the sky”, for the Friday launch from Sriharikota in southern Andhra Pradesh state at 3:58 GMT.
The rocket weighs about 1,323 kgs, said a senior official at state-run ISRO, who did not wish to be named.
India will use its latest satellites for better border surveillance and obtaining high-resolution images of the earth.
“PSLV-C40 is a highly sophisticated surveillance tool to keep an eye on Indian borders and will help the government track progress of infrastructure projects,” said Pallava Bagla, a science writer and co-author of “Reaching for the Stars: India’s Journey to Mars.”
Two scientists at ISRO said images collected by the satellites will be used by the Indian security agencies to track military activities in Pakistan, China, Bangladesh Sri Lanka and Nepal.
