ISRO Gets Ready for Historic 100th Mission

Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation is preparing for its 100th mission next month with the commercial launch of two foreign satellites from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

Isro plans to launch 720-kg SPOT-6 remote sensing satellite from France (built by ASTRIUM SAS) and a 15-kg Japanese spacecraft Protiers on board the home-grown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) in the second week of September, in a major milestone of sorts.

"We have today (so far) put 99 missions (62 satellites and 37 launch vehicles) from the days of Aryabhata (satellite) of 1975", Chairman of Bangalore-headquartered space agency, K Radhakrishnan told PTI here. "PSLV-C21 would be the 100th mission. The launch is basically for commercial purposes".

In what could be a "double delight" for Indian space scientists, Isro's 3400-kg communication satellite GSAT-10 is also likely to be launched between September 19 and 21 by European space consortium Arianespace's Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.