(Online Desk)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hailed ISRO scientists for the successful PSLV C-40 mission, saying the moment signifies the agency's achievements as well the country's "bright future" in space programme.

ISRO successfully launched India's weather observation satellite Cartosat 2 Series and 29 other spacecraft onboard its dependable Polar rocket PSLV-C40 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The launch by "@isro signifies both its glorious achievements, and also the bright future of India's space programme," he said a tweet.

Extending his "heartiest congratulations" to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its scientists on today's achievement, Modi said the success in the New Year will bring benefits of the country's rapid strides in space technology to citizens, farmers and fishermen.

Further, benefits of India's success "are available to our partners," he added.

"Out of the 31 Satellites, 28 belonging to 6 other countries are carried by today's launch," he said in another tweet.

Today's successful mission came after a rare failure in August last year when the PSLV-C39 could not release the backup navigation satellite IRNSS-1H due to a technical snag in the fourth and last stage.