The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has begun a mission to explore black holes with a new space observatory.
ISRO Chairman Sreedhara Somanath announced on Monday that the launch of the carrier rocket from the Sriharikota space centre had been successful.
The Indian television channel NDTV reported that the production of the satellite, which is expected to have a service life of more than five years, cost around INR2.5 billion ($30 million).
#ISRO lights up the spirits of 140 crore Indians on the first day of 2024!
— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) January 1, 2024
Kudos to @isro for the flawless launch of PSLV-C58/ XPoSat Mission. It's a proud moment for #NewIndia.#XPoSat pic.twitter.com/oDsqQEfaUg
This is significantly less than was spent on a satellite for a similar mission by the US space agency NASA.
India has increasingly ambitious space plans. Most recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he wanted his country to send an astronaut to the moon for the first time by 2040 - and that there would be an Indian space station by 2035.