PSLV-C44, carrying India's military satellite Microsat-R and students' payload Kalamsat, lifts off

ISRO's PSLV C44 lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here on Thursday, carrying India's military satellite Microsat-R and students' payload Kalamsat.

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) workhorse Polar rocket blasted off from the first launchpad at 11.37 pm at the end of a 28-hour countdown and soared into the clear and starry night sky, in the first mission for ISRO in 2019.

In its 46th flight, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C44) would place the 740-kg primary satellite Microsat-R, an imaging satellite meant for military purposes, in a 274-km polar sun synchronous orbit about 14 minutes after the lift-off, the ISRO said.

After this, the stage four of the rocket with the Kalamsat, a 10-CM size cube and weighing 1.2 kg, would be moved to a higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments using the tiny payload.

Kalamsat is said to be the lightest satellite of India.