Riding on a rocket owned by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the micro-satellite X-Sat blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India yesterday, more than four years late.
The 105kg fridge-size satellite, which will be used to take photographs to measure soil erosion and environmental changes on Earth, was one of three riding on Isro's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C16). The other two were built by India and Russia.
Yesterday's launch, at 12.42pm Singapore time, was PSLV's 18th successful lift-off since its maiden flight in 1994. Only two launches have failed.
X-Sat is designed and built from scratch by scientists and engineers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore's defence research body DSO National Laboratories.
Now in orbit, X-Sat is establishing communication contact with ground control in NTU, a process likely to take up to a week. Once contact has been made, an 'initial health status of the satellite will be ascertained and confirmed', said an NTU spokesman.
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