PSLV-C38 lifts off with 31 satellites
The highly reliable launch vehicle has registered 39th consecutive success in its 40th mission.
Sriharikota: Within 18 days of launching the next generation launch vehicle GSLV Mk-III rocket, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully completed another mission as the PSLV-C38 rocket launched the earth observation Cartosat-2E satellite and 30 nanosatellites from 14 countries into their designated orbit on Friday.
Pictures and videos from Cartosat-2E would assist a wide range of activities, including military and civil planning.
Following the 28-hour countdown activities, the PSLV rocket lifted off from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 9.29 am. After a flight of 24 minutes, the rocket laced the 712-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite and co-passenger satellites weighing 243 kg into their Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
The highly reliable launch vehicle has registered 39th consecutive success in its 40th mission.
Congratulating the scientists, Isro chairman A.S Kiran Kumar said, “The space organisation will launch the GSAT-17 communication satellite on June 28 which will increase the transponder capacity significantly. Our efforts to increase the navigation, earth observation and communication satellites will continue.”
“Starting from May 5, Isro has sent three different missions in a short span of 50 days. We have launched South Asian Satellite, communication satellite and earth observation satellite with GSLV Mk-II, GSLV-MK-III and PSLV rockets,” said K. Sivan, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram
“PSLV-C38 rocket is not a regular mission. We have got some innovation in this mission. After satellite separation, the stage four of the rocket (PS4) will be active for 10 more orbits. It will provide the cost effective platform for carrying out very costly experiments,” he said.
Images from the Cartosat-2 series satellite can be used for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, 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) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.
In the coming days, the Cartosat-2E satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provide various remote sensing services using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras.
The 29 co-passenger nanosatellites are from 14 foreign countries, including Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, UK, and the US and one nanosatellite from India.