ISRO hits a century of satellites, fires its 100th today and 29 more

Chennai: Almost four months after an unsuccessful satellite launch, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday sent up another rocket. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lift off at 9:29 am on Friday from Sriharikota, 110 kms from Chennai, carrying India's 100th satellite along with 30 others.

The surveillance satellite from the ‘Cartosat 2’ series will keep watch on India's hostile neighbours.

On August 31, 2017 India's mission to launch its backup navigation satellite IRNSS-1H on board PSLV-C39 failed after the heat shield did not separate in the final leg of the launch sequence and as a result, the satellite IRNSS-1H got stuck in the fourth stage of the rocket.

Friday’s launch is the 42nd flight of the PSLV. The launch also marks the first launch for ISRO in 2018.

About ISRO launch

• On Friday ISRO’s trusted workhorse 'PSLV-C40' carried the weather observation 'Cartosat-2' series satellite and 30 co-passengers (together weighing about 613 kg) at lift-off at 9:29 am
• The co-passenger satellites comprise one micro and nano-satellite each from India as well as three micro and 25 nano-satellites from six countries -- Canada, Finland, France, Korea, the United Kingdom and United States of America
• Of the total number of satellites carried by PSLV-C40, 30 satellites will be launched into a 505 kms polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO)
• Scientists would bring down the height by twice restarting the fourth stage of the PSLV-C40 for launch of Microsat satellite, which will be placed in a 359 kms polar SSO
• The entire launch of satellites is expected to happen over a period of 2 hours and 21 seconds
• The 28-hour countdown activity of PSLV-C40/Cartosat2 Series Satellite Mission started at 5:29 pm on Thursday
• The total weight of all the 31 satellites carried on-board PSLV-C40 is about 1,323 kgs
• The 44.4 metre tall rocket was lift-off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota
• The 28 international customer satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between ISRO and its commercial arm 'Antrix Corporation Ltd'
• The Cartosat-2 series satellite launch is a follow-on mission with the primary objective of providing high resolution scene specific spot imageries
• It carries panchromatic and multi-spectral cameras operating in Time Delay Integration mode and is capable of delivering high resolution data
• It will be the third satellite in the Cartosat-2 series. ISRO had successfully launched Cartosat-2 Series satellite on June 22, 2016. It is similar to the earlier Cartosat-2, 2A and 2B
• The images sent by Cartosat-2 series satellite will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps and change detection to bring out geographical Land Information Systems and Geographical Information System applications.

With inputs from PTI.