India rocket carries 31 small ‘sats’ into space
Bulgaria launches satellite
NEW DELHI, June 24, (Agencies): India fired a rocket carrying 31 small satellites into space on Friday, several of them for European countries, in a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambition to project the country as a global low-cost provider of services in space.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launched a 712 kg Cartosat-2 satellite for earth observation and 30 other tiny satellites from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh at 9.29 am (0359GMT).
The rocket is carrying satellites from India and 14 other countries, including Austria, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, as part of an international commercial arrangement by the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation. (ISRO)
The satellites will be used for communications, weather forecasting and monitoring
Modi
crops.
“Congratulations to ISRO on its 40th successful Polar satellite launch ... You make us proud!” Modi tweeted.
Modi’s government has been promoting the space programme as a showcase of low-cost technology.
In 2014, India sent an orbiter to Mars at a cost of $74 million, a fraction of the $671 million the US space agency NASA spent on its MAVEN Mars mission.
“We reached Mars on a budget less than that of a Hollywood film,” Modi said this week.
For all its success, the Indian space programme has a tiny share of the global market.
In 2015, the global space industry was valued at $323 billion, according to a Space Foundation report, and India accounted for just 0.6 percent of that business.
Bulgaria’s satellite launched:
Bulgaria’s first geostationary communications satellite has been launched into space, operator Bulsatcom said in a statement on Saturday.
The BulgariaSat-1 satellite, which will provide television and communication services to Europe and North Africa, was launched by SpaceX from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1910 GMT on Friday.
The satellite could be also used in force majeure situations - accidents due to natural disasters - such as earthquakes, storms and floods when land-based networks are not operational.
New orbiters for Europe’s Galileo:
The European Space Agency signed a contract with a GermanBritish consortium Thursday to build eight more satellites for its Galileo satnav system, an alternative to America’s GPS, the agency said Thursday.
The deal was signed at the International Paris Air Show with German company OHB as the prime contractor, and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in charge of navigation systems.
The ESA signed on behalf of the European Commission, which owns and funds the system.
Astronomer Nelson dies at 73:
Jerry Nelson, an astronomer who designed advanced telescopes that help scientists glimpse far reaches of the universe, has died in California. He was 73.
The University of California, Santa Cruz, where Nelson was a professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics, said he died June 10 at his home. No cause was given.
Nelson’s design using dozens of segmented mirrors rather than a single large one was the basis for the Keck Observatory’s twin 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii.