NEW DELHI, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Indian space research organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday successfully launched an earth observation satellite -- RISAT-2BR1 and nine other commercial satellites from four foreign countries onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C48).
The satellite was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh at 03:25 p.m. (local time).
"RISAT-2BR1 satellite successfully placed in orbit by PSLV C48," reads a statement issued by ISRO after the successful launch of the satellite. "All 9 customer satellites (from Israel, Italy, Japan and USA) successfully placed in their designated orbit by PSLV C48."
The satellite launch was broadcast live from the centre.
Television images showed the rocket blasted off from the launch pad emitting a bright orange flame from its tail and moving upwards in the sky.
According to ISRO, PSLV-C48 is the 50th mission of PSLV.
The RISAT-2BR1 is a radar imaging earth observation satellite weighing about 628 kg. ISRO said it was placed into an orbit of 576 km at an inclination of 37 degrees.
The countdown for the launch of PSLV-C46 mission commenced on Tuesday at 04:40 p.m. local time.
The nine customer satellites, one each from Israel, Italy and Japan, and six from the U.S., were launched under a commercial arrangement between these countries and New Space India Limited (NSIL), department of space.
Last month ISRO successfully launched Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites into sun-synchronous orbit onboard PSLV-C47.
