[SatelliteTODAY 02-25-13] The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully launched the SARAL Indo-French satellite from its spaceport at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on Monday. ISRO’S PSLV rocket also carried Austria’s UniBRITE and BRITE; Denmark’s AAUSAT3; the United Kingdom’s STRaND; and Canada’s NEOSSat and SAPPHIRE.

   The ISRO-built SARAL is a 410-kg satellite with two payloads, Argos and Altika, from the French space agency CNES. The satellite will conduct oceanographic studies aimed at enhancing the understanding of the ocean state conditions, which are otherwise not covered by the in-situ measurements. The Altika payload will help study the sea surface heights while the Argos payload is a satellite-based data collection platform. 

   This was the 23rd mission of the PSLV, which has a record of 21 consecutive successful flights. This is the ninth time ISRO is using the “core alone” variant of the rocket. ISRO had initially planned this launch for Dec. 12, 2012, but postponed it to carry out additional tests to “address technical issues to ensure reliability.”