India's ISRO places three satellites into orbit

Details: Shailaja Pai; Category: Satellite Networks; 14 February 2022; 4971 views

India's ISRO places three satellites in orbits

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the radar imaging satellite EOS-04 along with two others on board Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C52) today (February 14) this morning.

According to an official statement from the National Space Agency of India, the mission was ISRO's first of 2022. The PSLV-C52 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), SHAR, Sriharikota.

The launch was conducted at 5:59 am to deploy EOS-04 in the Sun-Synchronous Orbit nearly 529 kilometres above the planet. The four-stage rocket lifted off with a student satellite INSPIRESat and a spacecraft dubbed INSAT-2DT that is a precursor of a joint India-Bhutan mission in the future.

Co-passenger satellites were successfully separated from the PSLV in a predetermined sequence.

The Earth Observation Satellite-04 is also called Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) that has been designed to provide high-quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry, and plantations, flood mapping, soil moisture and hydrology.

Weighing about 1,710 kg, it generates 2280W power and has a mission life of 10 years.

The spacecraft will collect observation data in C-Band completing the observations done by Resourcesat, Cartosat, and RISAT-2B series. The satellite has an operating life of a decade.

India currently has 53 operational satellites, of which 21 are earth observation ones and another 21 are communication-based. Eight are navigation satellites, while the remaining three are science satellites.