A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, a successful workhorse of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, a successful workhorse of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has blasted off from the launch pad of the space agency in Sriharikota, as a first attempt by the Indian scientists to send 20 satellites in one go.

The vehicle lifted off at 9.26 AM with Cartosat-2C, the 725.5 kg earth observation satellite for defence needs, and 19 other satellites for customers such as Google-owned Terra Bella and former NASA employee owned Planet Labs.

The mission is also an attempt to demonstrate the capabilities of the country's space organisation, which has achieved several firsts in the past, to launch a large number of satellites in a single launch. This is expected to attract countries and companies for small satellite launches, such as One Web, which is eyeing capacity to hurl over 700 small satellites into space within a short timeframe.

According to ISRO officials, the frequency of rocket launches is expected to increase from this year. The low cost of launching PSLV and its proven success rate is also expected to make the service more attractive to global customers.

It is also building a consortium which include Hindustan Aeronautics, Godrej Aerospace and Larson and Toubro to jointly assemble and launch the PSLV rocket by 2020 for both local needs and tap global customer launches.

The move would help crunch the time to launch a PSLV rocket once in three weeks from India's space pad in Sriharikota as against the current norm of once every two months.

The PSLV rocket launched today also carry a 85 kg maritime satellite jointly built by Canada's defence research agency and Canada's space agency, a 130 kg scientific satellite from Germany's aerospace centre, and a 120 kg earth observation satellite for Indonesia's space agency.

The mission also has Skysat-3, a 110 kg earth imaging satellite with capability to capture high definition videos designed and built by Terra Bella (formerly Skybox Imaging), a company owned by Google and the imaging satellite made of commercially available electronics of Planet Labs, the Silicon Valley firm started by former NASA scientists.

Besides, two nano satellites weighing less than 1.5 kg, built by College of Engineering in Pune and Sathyabama University for experimental studies on green house gases and help HAM operators will also ride piggyback on the rocket.

The biggest payload in the mission is the Cartosat-2C, the earth observation satellite with capability to identify objects of less than a metre to be used for strategic purposes. This satellite is similar to the earlier Cartosat-2, 2A and 2B.