Sep 12 2002
From The Space Library
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced its first successful launch of a satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. ISRO launched METSAT, a meteorological satellite, from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, using it own rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The new version of the PSLV reflected a significant enhancement of the rocket's capabilities and a substantial improvement in ISRO's overall launch capabilities. Previous versions of the PSLV had been capable of placing 900-kilogram (2,000-pound) satellites in a 900-kilometer (560-mile), polar Sun-synchronous orbit, whereas the PSLV-C4 had placed the 1,055-kilogram (2,325-pound) METSAT in a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee (the farthest point from Earth) of 34,700 kilometers (21,600 miles). (ISRO, “PSLV-C4 Launch Successful~Places METSAT in Orbit,” news release, 12 September 2002, http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Sep13_2002.htm (accessed 3 October 2008); Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.”)
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