ISRO launches earth imaging satellite along with 9 other international satellites from AP, India

India sent its first space mission in almost a year with a launch of EOS-01, an earth observation satellite, this afternoon. EOS-01, along with nine satellites from foreign countries, was launched by a PSLV rocket twelve minutes past three.

This is the space agency's first launch since a nationwide coronavirus lockdown was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 23. An earlier launch - of the GSAT-30 telecommunication satellite - was completed in January, but that was from a base in French Guinea.

The launch took place at 3.12 PM after a 26-hour countdown. The launch was delayed by 10 minutes due to bad weather and debris in the flight path, ISRO sources told news agency PTI.

"India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its 51st mission (PSLV-C49) will launch EOS-01 as primary satellite along with nine international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled at 1502 Hrs IST on November 7, 2020, subject to weather conditions," the space agency said.

The customer satellites, launched under a commercial agreement with NewIndia Space Limited (NSIL), include four from the Unitedd States that are meant for "multi-mission remote sensing".

Four of the remaining five are from Luxembourg (for maritime applications) and the other is from Lithuania (for technology demonstration).