ISRO's PSLV C38, carrying earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 Series and 30 co-passenger satellites, lifts off from Sriharikota on Friday. PTI Sriharikota (AP): The Indian space agency, ISRO, Friday successfully launched its workhorse rocket PSLV carrying Cartosat-2 series satellite - a dedicated satellite that will give defence surveillance a leg up - and 30 nano satellites into orbit.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 40th flight (PSLV-C38), lifted off majestically from the first launch pad, Satish Dhawan Space Centre here at 9.29 am and injected the satellites into orbit about 27 minutes after lift off, amid applause from scientists.
The 44.4-meter tall PSLV-C38 carried the earth observation satellite - Cartosat-2 series satellite as the primary payload along with 30 co-passenger satellites totally weighing 955 kg.
With the launch of the third spacecraft in the Cartosat-2 series, India's 'eye in the sky' is set to become sharper and wider.
The previous satellite in the series had a resolution of 0.8 meters and the images it took on India's neighborhood had helped New Delhi carry out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the Line of Control last year, according to ISRO sources.
The latest remote sensing satellite has a resolution of 0.6 meters, which means it can spot even smaller objects.
"It can recognize objects within that square (0.6 m by 0.6 m)", an ISRO official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
"Defense surveillance will get a leg-up. It can be used in identifying terrorist camps and bunkers... some formations," the official said.
Once this satellite becomes operational, it would be "handed over" to the defense forces, which have their own "set up," including ground-stations and trained manpower to access data, the official said.
PSLV-C38 is the 17th flight of PSLV XL configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).
Nano satellites
The co-passenger satellites includes a nano satellite designed and developed by the Noorul Islam University in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
The NIUSAT satellite would provide multi-spectral imagery for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management support applications.
The other 29 nano satellites are from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
As the satellites were injected into orbit one by one, the scientists broke into cheers at the Mission Control Centre.
Lauding the scientists, ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said the mission was successful.
"I congratulate the hardwork of the entire team, especially the Cartosat team. This particular mission has been successful, it has put all the satellites into the orbit," he said.
The ISRO had on June 5 launched its most powerful and heaviest geostationary rocket carrying advanced communication satellite GSAT-19, weighing 3,136 kg, from the spaceport here. Every stage of the three-stage GSLV MkIII with indigenous cryogenic engine had performed well.
Kumar said the GSAT-19 has reached the designated location and all the payloads have been switched on and it has started performing.
He said a communication satellite would be launched on June 28 "which will add significant number of transponders to our capacity."
"Our effort of continuing to provide increased earth observation, navigation as well as communication will continue and we have many more activities to be performed in the coming days," he said.
Cartosat-2
The space agency said the 29 international customer nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), commercial arm of ISRO and international customers.
Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite and it is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery.
The imagery sent by the satellite would be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and man-made features and various other land information system (LIS) as well as geographical information systems (GIS).
Earlier on February 15, ISRO scripted history when the PSLV-37 mission launched 104 satellites into orbit, including a Cartosat-2 series earth observation satellite.
