Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): An ISRO heavylift rocket with communication satellite CMS-03, the 'heaviest' to be carried by an Indian launch vehicle and into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), lifted off from the spaceport here on Sunday. After the 24 hour countdown concluded, the 43.5 metre tall rocket soared into the skies at the prefixed time of 5.26 pm from the second launch pad at this spaceport, about 135 km from Chennai, emanating bright orange coloured fumes on its tail. The satellite riding piggyback on the LVM3-M5 rocket popularly dubbed Bahubali for its heavy-lift capability, after a flight journey of about 16-20 minutes, is expected to be separated upon reaching an altitude of about 180 km, ISRO said.

The CMS-03 is a multi-band communication satellite that would provide services over a wide oceanic region including the Indian landmass, ISRO said. It is the heaviest satellite to be carried by a domestic rocket, launched from the Indian soil and into the GTO. The Indian space agency has been utilizing the Kourou launch base in French Guyana for launching heavier satellites. In December 2018, ISRO had successfully launched communication satellite GSAT-11, weighing about 5,854 kg and the heaviest spacecraft built by the space agency, from French Guyana.

Announcing the success of the mission, ISRO Chief V Narayanan congratulated the team on the successful launch despite challenging weather."The CMS-03 satellite is a multi-band communication satellite with coverage over a wide oceanic region, including the Indian landmass, and is designed for providing communication services for at least 15 years. The satellite incorporates a host of new technologies and yet another shiny example of Atmanirbhar Bharat," the ISRO chairman said.

This is going to be a great experiment, which is going to feed data for restarting the cryogenic stage in future for enabling the mission flexibility for placing multiple satellites in various orbits using the Bahubali rocket LVM-3," the ISRO chief said.