Isro to launch earth observation satellite Cartosat-2E and 30 nano satellites on Friday

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Cartosat-2E is an earth observation satellite
  • The 30 Nano satellites include those from foreign countries, including the US
  • PSLV carrying the satellites will lift off from Sriharikota spaceport at 9.29am on Friday

CHENNAI: After successfully launching the maiden developmental flight of its heavy rocket GSLV Mk-III earlier this month, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch 31 satellites, including foreign nano satellites, onboard its workhorse PSLV on Friday.

The rocket, in its 40th flight, will lift off with Cartosat-2E, an earth observation satellite, and 30 other nano satellites at 9.29am from the first launch pad at Sriharikota spaceport. The satellites will be placed in a 505km polar sun synchronous orbit.

The nano satellites will include 29 from 14 different countries — Austria, Belgium, Chile, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the UK and the US. There will be one nano satellite from India made by students of Noorul Islam University in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.

The 712kg weighing Cartosat-2E is the sixth satellite in the Cartosat-2 series. It will provide regular remote sensing services using its panchromatic and multispectral cameras.

The images sent by the satellite will be useful 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) as well as geographical information system (GIS) applications.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com