Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO’s) PSLV C-52, carrying earth observation satellite EOS-04 and two other co-passenger satellites, launched off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 5:59 am on Monday, 14 February, marking the space agency’s first launch of 2022.
PSLV-C52 injected Earth Observation Satellite EOS-04, into an intended sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 km altitude at 06:17 am on Monday, said ISRO.
Apart from the Earth Observation Satellite, the launch vehicle also carried two small satellites, INSPIREsat-1 and INS-2TD.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was launched from the first launch pad after a 25-hour countdown.
The EOS-04 is an all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite designed to provide high quality images for applications such as agriculture, forestry and plantations, soil moisture, and hydrology and flood mapping. It has a mission life of 10 years.
ISRO Chairman Shri S Somanath congratulated team ISRO for the precision with which the mission was accomplished.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO's scientists for the successful launch of PSLV C52 mission.
He tweeted on Monday, "Congratulations to our space scientists on the successful launch of PSLV C52 mission. EOS-04 satellite will provide high resolution images under all weather conditions for agriculture, forestry and plantations, soil moisture and hydrology as well as flood mapping."
Other Satellites
INSPIREsat-1 is a 8.1 kg satellite developed by students from Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST) in association with Laboratory of Atmospheric & Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It will study ionosphere dynamics and the sun's coronal heating process over the course of a year.
INS-2TD is a technology demonstrator satellite from ISRO. It is a precursor to India-Bhutan Joint Satellite (INS-2B), the agency says. It is fitted with a thermal imaging camera to observe land, water surface temperatures, delineation of vegetation, and thermal inertia. The 17.5-kilogram satellite has the shortest lifespan of just six months.
The space agency's last mission ended in failure after the GSLV rocket carrying the EOS-3 satellite malfunctioned about five minutes after lift-off in August 2021.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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