Cartosat-2 launch: India puts another smart eye in the sky

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched the Cartosat-2 series satellite—a dedicated satellite for defence forces—along with 30 co-passenger satellites from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh today.

PSLV-C38 launched the 712 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger satellites together, weighing about 243 kg at lift-off, into a 505-km polar sun synchronous orbit.

The co-passenger satellites include 29 Nano satellites from 14 countries—Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America—besides a nano satellite from India.

This is the 40th flight of PSLV and 17th flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).

The international customer nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), commercial arm of ISRO and International customers.

Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite and it is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery.

It has a resolution of 0.6 metres, which means it can spot even smaller objects within a square of 0.6 m by 0.6 m.

Once this satellite becomes operational, it would be handed over to the defence forces, which have their own infrastructure, which includes ground stations, and trained manpower to access data.