'Astrosat' launch is a great achievement for ISRO and India, says scientist

Space scientist C. B. Devgun on Monday described the launch of the Astrosat as a great achievement for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and India, and deemed it a major commercial success

"The satellite, which we have launched (Astrosat), is an observatory which is going to be in space like the Hubble Space Telescope. We are the fourth country in the world to do it, so it is a great achievement for ISRO and for India," Devgun told ANI.

Devgan said that ISRO has been performing quite successfully without any failure of their launchers.

"We have four other satellites from different countries launched along with the Astrosat. So, it is a kind of commercial success also," he added.

The country's first dedicated satellite for astronomical research, Astrosat, was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre today at 10 a.m today.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C30 is carrying the Astrosat along with six other co-passengers, one satellite each from Indonesia and Canada, and four nano-satellites from the United States.

Along with the Astrosat, four identical nano-satellites of Spire Global Inc., the US, a micro-satellite from Indonesia and a nano- satellite of the University of Toronto, Canada also took off.