New Delhi - An Indian rocket successfully placed 10 satellites, including eight non-Indian satellites, into orbit on Monday, setting a world record, officials and media reports said. The Indian Space Research Organization's latest satellite launch vehicle, the PSLV-C9, blasted off at 9:23 am (0353 GMT) from the agency's main launch station, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, off the country's eastern coast and 90 kilometres north of Chennai city.
Fourteen minutes after the blast-off, the PSLV, or Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, released the satellites into orbit, one after another, in a timed sequence without any collision, ISRO scientists said.
The PSLV carried India's latest remote sensing satellite, the Cartosat-2A, along with an Indian mini-satellite and eight "nano" satellites developed by foreign research institutions, including those from Germany and Canada.
The live broadcast on the state-run Doordarshan TV showed ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair congratulating the scientists after the successful launch.
"We could not detect even the slightest deviation from the designated trajectory. So that shows that the mission was perfect and the spacecraft were delivered on dot," an effusive Nair told reporters.
"For ISRO it is a historic moment because for the first time 10 satellites were put in orbit in a single launch. I am extremely proud of the entire team," he said.
Indian media hailed the launch as "historic" and a "milestone" in the country's three-decade-old space programme.
Russia had delivered eight satellites together in a mission in April last year, the PTI news agency reported. The Russian launch vehicle also carried a lesser payload of only around 300 kilogrammes.
The 230-ton PSLV, which cost 700 million rupees (17.5 million dollars) to build, carried the satellites weighing a total of about 824 kilogrammes.
According to ISRO, Cartosat-2A weighs about 690 kilograms and the satellite carries a panchromatic camera that can record high-clarity images covering a swathe of 9.6 kilometres.
The remote sensing satellite will provide data that would be used for urban and rural infrastructure management and land information systems, ISRO spokesman S Satish said.
The 83-kilogram Indian Mini Satellite-1 incorporates new technologies and data from it will be shared with other developing nations.
The foreign "nano" satellites, which together weigh a mere 52 kilograms, were launched under a commercial arrangement. Among the satellites were CUTE from Japan and RUBIN from Germany.
India, which set up its space mission 35 years ago, has 13 satellites in orbit and its space agency has been competing with space agencies from the United States, Russia, China and the European Union.
In April last year, ISRO successfully placed an Italian astronomical satellite into orbit, marking India's entry into an exclusive group of nations conducting commercial space launches. It has also planned an unmanned mission to the moon in the third quarter of 2008.
