The Prime Minister has given his heartiest congratulations towards the launch of PSLV today. This success in the new year will bring benefits of the country's rapid strides in technology to our farmers, citizens and fishermen. The launch also marked the 100th satellite from ISRO. In a series of tweets the Prime Minister has conveyed his heartfelt wishes and has placed a high confidence in the future of the country. The tweet also mentioned that benefits of our country's success would be available to our partners as well. Out of 31 satellites, 28 belonging to 6 other countries are carried by today's launch.

The "Cartosat-2 Series" satellite and 29 others will be inserted into 505km sun synchronous orbit. It is the seventh remote sensing satellite in its series and has mission life of five years. The satellite has been developed from addressing multiple aspects like monitoring urban and rural applications, coastal land use regulation, managing services like road networks and water distribution, detecting changes in geographical features and creation of maps.

Last year PSLV had suffered a setback in August, but with this being the first flight since then and a step to show that the workhorse rocket is back in the game for reliable satellite launches in the low earth and polar orbits. AS Kiran, ISRO's Chairman, had accepted that there were problems last august but this successful launch proves that those problems were correctly addressed and rectified. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State from Prime Minister's Office, called it as a historic day and a great headway for the country. A brainstorming session between space scientists and officials from different government departments will be organised to understand the diverse applications of space technology in transforming India.

The country has steadily been progressing in the field of space related activities with the latest event adding another feather to the cap. ISRO in particular has been taking rapid strides and justifying the expectations of the whole country. The milestone has garnered nationwide interest and will also highlight the efforts put in by the people involved in making it successful. The leaders are recognising these efforts and we can hope for more investment on this front.