The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C9) launched India's Remote Sensing satellites CARTOSAT-2A and Indian Mini Satellite-1 (IMS-1) along with eight nanosatellites successfully on April 28, 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The telemetry data received indicates that all the subsystems of both the satellites are functioning satisfactorily and the health of the satellites is normal.

On April 29, 2008, the Multispectral camera onboard IMS-1 was switched on and high quality imagery covering Allahabad to Rameswaram was obtained. Today (April 30, 2008), the Hyper Spectral Imaging (HySI) camera onboard IMS-1 and panchromatic (PAN) camera onboard CARTOSAT-2A were switched on. Imagery from HySI camera covered Uttarakhand to Karnataka passing through Delhi and Bhopal. PAN camera covered strips of land from Saharanpur to Nuh (South of Delhi) and Sangli to Goa Coast. Data was received at National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Shadnagar, Hyderabad. Quality of the imagery received is excellent.

Launch of PSLV-C9 is a significant milestone for the country, as it has again proved the reliability and versatility of PSLV and its ability to put satellites in different types of orbits, thus proving its commercial potential as well. This provides an excellent opportunity to undertake commercial launches of different class of satellites as stand-alone launches or as shared launches with our own satellites.