The PSLV-C18 blasted off successfully at 11 o' clock this morning from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The Climate monitoring Megha-Tropiques and three other satellites have been successfully placed in orbit.

The PSLV will be stabilized into an orbit of 867 kilometres altitude. The launcher is the core-alone version of the four-stage PSLV, without the strap-on booster motors.

The Scientists at the Centre expressed satisfaction at the trajectory path of the vehicle.

The 1,000-kg Mega Tropiques satellite had been built to investigate the tropical regions which received the maximum energy from the sun than they radiated back into space.

The satellite has four scientific payloads. The Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures, built by ISRO and the CNES, will provide an estimation of rainfall, water vapour, liquid water, ice and surface wind.

Scanner for Radiative Budget, SCARAB, will study the radiation received by the earth and reflected by it.

The third instrument called SAPHIR will investigate the humidity present in the tropical atmosphere. The CNES has built the SCARAB and the SAPHIR.

The Global Positioning System- Radio Occultation System from Italy will study the temperature and humidity at different altitudes.

Two of the nano satellites will also help in assessing the climatic conditions and send datas which would be used in weather related research. The other nano satellite will help in identifying vessels in high seas.

It was a moment of honour and glory for the Nation as PSLV C 18 soared into air amidst balls of fire. The scientists, their families and an anxious media contingent roared and whistled as the satellite launch vehicle took off from the launch pad. It took 22 minutes and 33 seconds for the vehicle to be injected into space.

The performance of ISRO in space science has advanced the place of India at the International Science fora.