Sriharikota: In a pre-dawn launch on Wednesday, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scripted history by successfully launching earth observation satellite RISAT-2B that would enhance the country’s surveillance capabilities among others.
As the 25-hour countdown which had began on Tuesday concluded, the agency’s trusted workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C46) blasted off at 5.30 am from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here on its 48th mission, carrying the 615 kg satellite.
The RISAT-2B (Radar Imaging Satellite-2B), meant for application in fields such as surveillance, agriculture, forestry and disaster management support, was successfully released into its orbit at about 15 minutes and 30 seconds after the lift-off.
Commenting on the launch from the Mission Control Centre, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said that the PSLV-C46 successfully injected RISAT-2B precisely in the designated orbit of 555 km, with an inclination of 37 degrees.
“This particular mission for PSLV is a very, very important mission. With this launch, PSLV lofts 50 tonnes to space by launching 354 satellites, including national, student and foreign satellites,” Sivan said.
The ISRO chairman said the PSLV-C46 carried two important piggyback payloads, an indigenously developed processor and a low cost Inertial Navigation System. “It is going to revolutionise our future launch vehicle missions” he said.
Sivan said the RISAT-2B is an advanced earth observation satellite. “In this satellite, another very complex new technology has flown. That is a 3.6 metre unfurlable radial rib antenna. This is also going to be the technology of the future,” he added.
For terrorists’ surveillance ISRO puts RISAT-2B into orbit:
On future launches, Sivan said, “The next mission-Chandrayaan-2-is going to be a landmark mission for India. It is going to be the most complex mission ever undertaken by ISRO. It is going to take place between July 9 and July 16 this year.”
He added that the landing on the moon is expected to be on September 6. “It is going to land at a particular location where nobody has gone before.” After Chandrayaan-2, Sivan said, “ISRO would look at launching the very high resolution CARTOSAT 3 satellite.”
“A second demonstration of the reusable launch vehicle is going to happen in the coming months. Cost effective small satellite launch vehicle developments are also going to take place in a few months from now,” he added.
RISAT-2B launched on Wednesday would replace the RISAT-2, which was successfully launched in 2009. The RISAT-2B is equipped with synthetic aperture radar that can take pictures of the earth during day and night, and also under cloudy conditions.
With a mission life of five years, the satellite would also be used for military surveillance, ISRO sources told media persons. The RISAT-2 has been actively used by India to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids by terrorists.
The PSLV-C46 was the 14th flight of the PSLV in its core-alone configuration sans the use of the solid strap-on motors.It was the 72nd launch vehicle mission from Sriharikota and also marked the 36th launch from the first launch pad.
ISRO had launched RISAT-1, a microwave remote sensing satellite, on April 26, 2012 from Sriharikota and on Wednesday’s launch of the PSLV also marked the third launch in 2019.
The other two were the PSLV-C45/EMISAT mission, which successfully injected the EMISAT and 29 international customer satellites into their orbits on April 1, and the PSLV-C44, which successfully placed the Microsat-R and the Kalamsat-V2 satellites in designated orbits on January 24.
