Nothing can beat team ISRO to cheer India and Indians and make their days and lives. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), an Indian rocket, on Wednesday morning, lifted off successfully with the country’s earth observation satellite Cartosat, Google company Terra Bella’s SkySat Gen2-1, along with 18 other satellites.
Tearing morning skies sharp at 9.26am, the 44.4 metre tall PSLV rocket that weighed 320 tonne, broke free of the earth’s gravitational pull. The 20 satellites weighed 1,288 kg in all. It took 26 minutes to successfully complete the launch mission.
India’s 725.5 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation was the rocket’s main cargo. Post the successful launch, ISRO scientists said that the satellite is similar to the earlier Cartosat-2, 2A and 2B.
The two other Indian satellites were developed by students of Chennai’s Sathyabama University and College of Engineering, Pune. The other 17 satellites were from US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia.
According to ISRO, the images sent by Cartosat satellite will be useful for cartographic, urban, rural, coastal land use, water distribution and other applications. The 110 kg SkySat Gen2-1 belonging to Terra Bella, a Google company is a small earth imaging satellite capable of capturing sub-metre resolution imagery and high definition video.
The Planet Lab’s Dove Satellites are also earth imaging satellites. A total of 12 Dove satellites, each weighing 4.7 kg, were carried in this mission inside three QuadPack dispensers, Isro said.
The PSLV rocket also carries 85 kg M3MSat from Canada. The technology demonstration mission is jointly funded and managed by Defence Research and Development Canada and the Canadian Space Agency.
The other foreign satellites on board are: 120 kg LAPSN-A3 of Indonesia, the 130 kg BIROS, from German Aerospace Centre, Germany and the 25.5 kg GHGSat-D, Canada.
The two Indian academia satellites, 1.5 kg Sathyabamasat from Sathyabama University will collect data on green house gases while the 1 kg Swayam satellite from College of Engineering, Pune will provide point-to-point messaging services to the HAM radio community.
This is the first time when ISRO launched more the 10 satellites with a single rocket. In 2008, the institution had launched 10 satellites with the PSLV rocket.
As per ISRO, till date, India has launched 57 foreign satellites successfully.
The article first published on www.lafdatv.com
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