India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) today successfully placed into orbit, remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and four other satellites after a perfect lift off from Sriharikota. At the end of an over 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 metre-tall four-stage PSLV-C-15, costing 260 crore rupees, blasted off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with ignition of the core first stage and placed the satellites in orbit one after the other.<br/><br/>Scientists, headed by ISRO chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, cheered as ISRO's workhorse PSLV soared into clear skies at 9.22 AM. The PSLV launch assumes significance as it comes about three months after ISRO suffered a major setback when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), which was launched using an Indian-designed and built cryogenic engine for the first time, failed and fell into the Bay of Bengal. Attributing today's success of PSLV C-15 launch to the entire team behind the mission, ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said, it had a an excellent flight and injected precisely the five satellites. He said his team of scientists was inspired to work especially after the last few weeks after a serious problem was faced. He said, ISRO have understood the problem with regard to the indigenous cryogenic engine and stage.<br/><br/>Cartosat-2B is an advanced remote sensing satellite built by ISRO. It is the latest in the Indian remote sensing satellite series and the 17th in this series.<br/><br/>Cartosat-2B is mainly intended to augment remote sensing data services to the users of multiple spot scene imagery with 0.8 metre spatial resolution and 9.6 km swath in the panchromatic.<br/>Cartosat-2 and 2A, two Indian remote sensing satellites in orbit, are currently providing such services. A set of four satellites including Studsat built by students of seven engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico (very small) satellite called Oceansat 2 accompanied Cartosat 2 on its trip to orbit.<br/><br/>The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahuluwalia, and former ISRO chief Dr K Kasturirangan witnessed the launch. Congratulating the scientists after the perfect take off, Ahluwalia said, the ISRO has made the country proud by its achievements.