Isro’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C52 blasted off from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at the scheduled time of 5:59am on Monday morning. The launch vehicle carrying earth observation satellite EOS-04 along with two co-passenger payloads – INSPIREsat-1 and INS-2TD – lifted off from the spaceport at the end of a 25-hour countdown, marking the Indian space agency’s first mission launch in 2022.
PSLV-C52 injected EOS-04 into an intended sun-synchronous polar orbit of 529km altitude at 0617am IST, said the Indian Space Research Organisation.
EOS-04 is a Radar Imaging Satellite designed to provide high-quality images under all weather conditions. The images can be used for agriculture, forestry and plantations, soil moisture and hydrology and flood mapping.
The student satellite INSPIREsat-1 is developed by the Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST) in association with the Laboratory of Atmospheric & Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, The technology demonstrator satellite INS-2TD from ISRO is a precursor to India-Bhutan Joint Satellite INS-2B.
