India has launched a new satellite named after a legendary scientist, which will “help track pollution” on Earth, the government said on Wednesday.
The “satellite of a thousand moons” will be placed in orbit around the equator by 2019, the Ministry of Space said in a statement.
India is the world’s largest user of artificial satellites, which aim to gather intelligence on the Earth and monitor pollution.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pressing for the deployment of satellite technology and satellite communications since he became prime minister in 2015.