New Delhi (Sputnik) Jun 26, 2017 - With the ability to zoom in on areas less than 0.6 meters, India's Cartosat-2 series satellite will allow the Indian Army to keep an eagle eye on hostile activities on the border, said experts on the feat accomplished by India with the launch of the PSLV rocket bearing the satellite on Friday.

The 712-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite has the highest ever resolution in panchromatic and multi-spectral cameras used for capturing targets on the ground at less than 0.6 meters.

"This (Cartosat-2 series) remote sensing satellite is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

"It will be capable of monitoring minute details, like the movement of persons, tanks etc if images are taken at quick intervals. It will also allow you to test on new bunkers being made at border. If Pakistan activated atom bomb testing site, this resolution will easily provide explicit details of the site to Indian authorities," Dr. Mayank N Vahiya, a scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, said.

Earlier on Friday, ISRO placed the Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation along with 30 other satellites into the 505-km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). ISRO used the XL variants of the PSLV rocket from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota for the launch. The PSLV uses 6 solid rocket strap-on motors to augment thrust provided by the first stage in PSLV-XL variants.

The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries namely, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, United Kingdom and the United States of America as well as one nano satellite from India.

India had launched the first dedicated military satellite Cartosat-2A in April 2008. Cartosat-2E is likely to be the last Cartosat-2 series spacecraft to launch. From next year, ISRO will start sending Cartosat-3 series satellites for remote sensing and other strategic purposes.

Source: Sputnik News

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Ключевые слова: Космическое агентство Индии, PSLV-XL, PSLV

WASHINGTON — India’s maiden launch of the GSLV Mark 3 rocket June 5 marks a big step forward on the country’s path to greater self sufficiency in space — a strategy India has used to guide its space activities not only in launch, but the construction and operation of telecommunications satellites.

Equipped with an Indian-made cryogenic upper stage, the GSLV Mark 3 is capable of placing 4,000 kilograms into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), the drop-off point for most communications satellites. In its debut, the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, launched GSAT-19, a 3,136-kilogram telecom satellite with Ku- and Ka-band beams, introducing domestic high-throughput capacity to a market where protectionist policies have constrained foreign supply.

The GSAT-19 mission demonstrated ISRO’s ability to launch heavier satellites that the space agency historically outsourced to Arianespace of Evry, France. Since 2000, Indian satellites weighing more than 2,500 kilograms have typically launched on Arianespace’s flagship Ariane 5 rocket.

The ability to launch heavier satellites means ISRO could soon launch more powerful home-grown satellites, something ISRO officials expressed direct interest in doing.

“I am sure that the successful mission of GSLV Mark 3-D1 today will lead to the third stream of operational launch vehicles for ISRO with higher capacity payloads,” P. Kunhikrishnan, the director of ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre, said during a post-launch speech, adding that future GSAT-series satellites “will lead to much higher-throughput satellites in the future.”

ISRO currently operates the less-powerful Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 2, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle — a launcher smallsat companies have found popular despite a U.S. policy that discourages its use, — and sounding rockets.

GSAT-19 is based on ISRO’s I-3K satellite bus and has a design life of 10 years, about five years short of the nominal design life of most commercial telecommunications satellites. Along with its telecom payload, GSAT-19 is carrying a payload called the Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer, or GRASP, designed to study the effects of space-based radiation on satellites.

Central to the success of yesterday’s launch was the performance of a new domestic cryogenic third stage. ISRO’s Propulsion Complex director, P.V. Venkatakrishnan, said the C25 engine took 15 years to create, starting in 2002, following five years of background work that began as an idea in 1997.

The first GSLV used a Russian upper stage, followed by the Mark 2 version with an Indian cryogenic upper stage. The GSLV Mark 2 can deliver around 2,500-kilograms to GTO. ISRO tested the GSLV-Mark 3 in 2014 with a dummy upper stage.

K. Sivan, director of ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the agency’s nerve center for launch vehicle design and development, described having a heavy-lift launcher and high-throughput satellite capabilities as “essential for the development of this country.”

The two technologies will “create revolutions in the applications of space-based technology for the common man of the country in a cost-effective way,” he said.

Kunhikrishnan said the Sriharikota spaceport is already planning the next GSLV-Mark 3 mission. A second vehicle assembly bay “is in the final stage of realization” that will be triple the size of ISRO’s current facility, he said.

For now, ISRO still relies on Arianespace to conduct launches that exceed its domestic capabilities. The agency’s next satellite, GSAT-17, launches June 28 on an Ariane 5 as part of a dual launch with Inmarsat and Arabsat’s Europasat/Hellas Sat 3 condosat.

SpaceNews.com

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