India’s pride Statue of Unity stands so tall, it catches attention of outer space

New Delhi: Arguably the tallest leaders of India, ‘Iron Man’ Sardar Patel’s ‘Statue of Unity’ is so tall that it is visible from space too.

Captured in a picture by the commercial satellite network Planet, the statue can be seen alongside the Narmada river. The statue now holds the record for being the tallest in the world—it leaves the last record-holder Spring Temple Buddha in China by almost 100 feet.

At 597 feet, India’s Statue of Unity is now the tallest statue in the world and clearly seen from space! Oblique SkySat image captured today, November 15, 2018. pic.twitter.com/FkpVoHJKjw

— Planet (@planetlabs) November 15, 2018

The Statue of Unity is double the height of the Statue of Liberty.

The image taken from atop the statue has earned it the rare status of being one among the few man-made structures visible from space. 

The other two are the Palm Islands along the Dubai coast and the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Sardar Patel’s statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kevadiya in Gujarat on October 31 and is built with an estimated cost of Rs 3000 crore.

Patel is credited with amalgamating the numerous small princely states of India with the Union at the time of Independence, hence the name of the statue.

The ISRO, while making a world record in launching 104 satellites in 2017, had launched 100 Dove Earth Imaging satellites for the San Francisco-based company.