ISRO successfully launches 100th satellite, places Cartosat 2 into orbit; see pics

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ISRO 100th satellite launch: India today reaffirmed its space prowess and commercial launch capabilities as it successfully launched its 100th satellite along with 30 other spacecraft including weather observation Cartosat 2 series onboard the Polar rocket from Sriharikota. This was PSLV's longest-ever mission. With the successful launch, including 28 satellites from foreign countries, by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), ISRO put behind a rare failure it encountered four months ago. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had suffered a setback after the failure of the earlier PSLV-C39 mission in August last year. (PTI Photo)

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The previous mission to launch backup navigation satellite IRNSS-1H on board PSLV-C39 had failed after the heat shield did not separate in the final leg of the launch sequence, with the satellite getting stuck in the fourth stage of the rocket. (PTI Photo)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed ISRO scientists for the successful PSLV C-40 mission. (PTI Photo)

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India's nano satellite and 28 payloads from six countries, including the U.S and the U.K, totally weighing 613 kg were then released into orbit one by one in a space of about seven minutes. (PTI Photo)

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In a multi-orbit manoeuvre, micro satellite built by ISRO was placed in the orbit finally after the PSLV-C40 was brought down to 359.584 kms in polar Sun synchronous orbit by twice re-starting the fourth stage of the rocket, about 105 minutes after lift-off.(Image: Source: ISRO website)

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The fourth stage was finally shut off at about 2 hours 21 minutes, thus making the mission the longest ever by ISRO. (PTI Photo)

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Earlier, in a precise launch, PSLV-C40 lifted off at 9.28 am at the end of the 28-hour countdown from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, about 110 km from Chennai, and soared into a cloudy sky. (Image: Source: ISRO website)

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After a perfect flight sequence, each of which was applauded by ISRO scientists, the four-stage rocket first injected the 710-kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite for earth observation into 505-km polar sun synchronous orbit about 17 minutes after lift off. (Image: Source: ISRO website)

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A visibly relieved Kiran Kumar, on his final mission as the chief of the space agency, said he was happy to provide Cartosat 2 Series as a New Year gift for the country. (PTI Photo)

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Cartosat-2 Series is an advanced remote sensing satellite similar in configuration to earlier six spacecraft in the series and intended to augment data services to the users. (AP Photo)