New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Monday (February 14) launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which also carried two small co-passenger satellites.
Earth observation satellite EOS-04 and two small satellites were successfully placed in the desired orbit by the PSLV-C52 rocket after its launch at 05:59 am from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
This, notably, is ISRO’s first launch mission of 2022.
EOS-04 is a radar imaging satellite designed to provide high-quality images in all weather for applications such as agriculture, forestry and plantation, soil moisture and hydrology, and flood mapping.
PSLV-C52 also blasted off with two smaller satellites as co-passengers, including a student satellite (InspireSat-1) from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in collaboration with the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado includes boulders.
The satellite carries two scientific payloads to improve understanding of ionosphere dynamics and the Sun’s coronal heating processes.
The other is a Technology Demonstrator Satellite (INS-2TD) of ISRO, a precursor to the India-Bhutan Joint Satellite (INS-2B). By having a thermal imaging camera as its payload, the satellite takes advantage of the estimation of land surface temperature, water surface temperature of wetlands or lakes, vegetation (crops and forests), and thermal inertia (day and night).
This is the 54th flight of PSLV and the 23rd mission using PSLV-XL configuration with 6 PSOM-XL (strap-on motors).