India launched the heaviest telecommunications satellite ever launched from its soil into orbit on Sunday, November 2, a new stage in its ambitious space program, its space agency (ISRO) announced.
“The machine (…) has been successfully deployed into its orbit,” announced the head of ISRO, V. Narayanan, to the applause of scientists and technicians at the Sriharikota space center, in the east of the country.
With a mass of 4.4 tons, the CMS-03, dedicated to telecommunications over the ocean and the Indian territory, was sent into space using the LVM3-M5 launcher, of which it was the first flight.
Great ambitions
This two-stage rocket, equipped with two auxiliary boosters, is an improved version of the one that sent an Indian-designed probe to the surface of the Moon in August 2023. Before India, only Russia, the United States and China had managed to send and land a machine on lunar soil.
The most populated country on the planet has great ambitions in terms of space conquest. After placing a probe into orbit around Mars in 2014 and placing a robot on the Moon in 2023, ISRO plans to send an astronaut to orbit on its own in 2027.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for his part, announced his desire to carry out an Indian walk on the Moon between now and 2040.
Source: BFM TV
