India's first edn satellite blasts off into the space

A scientist monitors screens at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite tracking facility in Hassan. India launched its first satellite to be used exclusively for education which will connect classrooms in remote parts of the country. PHOTO: AFP

The EDUSAT satellite weighing 1,950kg blasted off Monday afternoon from a space centre in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

"We have got a perfect launch and hope to have major operations running in the next few days," said an elated PS Goel, director of the satellite centre.

The satellite will help provide primary and university education in cities and villages even in remote areas, according Indian Space Research Organisation Spokesman S Krishnamurthy. It will connect over 1,000 class rooms in phases.

The satellite was put into the space by indigenously-built Geosynchronus launch vehicle which can carry communication satellites weighing up to 2,000kg.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, now in New York, congratulated the scientists on the successful launch of EDUSAT.

The ISRO had in January this year announced the $19.5 million project to use satellites for promoting distant education. India had started the project through the communication satellite INSAT-3A which is now in orbit and the service will shift to EDUSAT which has a mission life span of seven years.

India has been aiming at the lucrative satellite launch market. The government had last year announced a plan to send an unmanned mission to the moon by 2008 at an estimated budget of $83 million.