By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Jun 23 (IANS): The Indian space agency on Friday crossed the double century mark in launching foreign satellites by putting into orbit 29 satellites belonging to overseas customers.
The rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle's (PSLV) put into orbit 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and the US - on Friday.
The rocket's main cargo was India's 712 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation with a design life of five years. One of the 30 co-passenger satellites was an Indian nano satellite NIUSAT.
According to S. Rakesh the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Antrix Corp, ISRO has launched 180 foreign satellites excluding Friday's launch. Antrix Corp is the commercial arm of ISRO.
ISRO started launching foreign satellites in 1999.