Indian Rocket Launches Cartosat 2 into Orbit

Liftoff of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was at 0353 GMT (10:53 p.m. EST Tuesday) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coast.
 
The four-stage rocket and its payloads arrived in orbit about 16 minutes after launch, and deployment of the satellites was completed about four minutes later.
 
The booster was shooting for a Sun-synchronous orbit about 395 miles (635 kilometers) high, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
 
The 145-foot (44-meter) tall rocket was the first PSLV to use a dual payload adapter to launch two primary payloads on the same mission.
 
The Cartosat 2 Earth-observation satellite rode atop the apparatus, while a recoverable capsule was housed below [image].
Cartosat 2 joins six other spacecraft currently operating in India’s remote sensing satellite fleet, and is the 12th member of the program throughout its history. The 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) craft is a direct follow-on to the larger Cartosat 1 satellite, which was launched in 2005.
 
Data obtained by Cartosat 2 during its 5-year mission will aid officials in mapping and land management across India. The satellite carries a black-and-white camera with a resolution of better than one meter, according to ISRO officials.
 
The high resolution camera marks an improvement over Cartosat 1, which could only resolve objects as small as about eight feet (2.5 meters) in black-and-white images. Cartosat 2’s camera will take pictures in swaths approximately six miles (9.6 kilometers) wide, while Cartosat 1’s camera produces imagery covering much larger areas almost 20 miles wide.
 
Cartosat 2 can also be pointed up to 45 degrees along and across its ground track as it flies above Earth, allowing it to gather different views of imagery targets.
 
(Source Space.com
EARSC
Author: EARSC



This website uses cookies to collect analytical data to enhance your browsing experience. Please accept our cookies or read our Privacy policy.