Sriharikota: India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 49th flight PSLV-C47 today successfully launched the 1,625 kg third generation agile advanced earth observation satellite Cartosat-3 along with 13 nanosatellites of USA from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR Range here.
An ISRO release said the 44.4m tall PSLV-C47 lifted-off at 0928 hrs from the Second Launch Pad and after 17 minutes and 38 seconds, the Cartosat-3 was successfully injected into a sun synchronous orbit of 509 km.Subsequently, the 13 nanosatellites were injected into their intended orbits.
After separation, solar arrays of Cartosat-3 were deployed automatically and the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite.
In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration, the release said.
Addressing the scientisits from the Mission Control Centre after the successful launch, ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan said 'I am extremely happy to declare that PSLV-C47 precisely injected Cartosat-3 and 13 customer satellites successfully into the desired orbit of 509 km.''
He said Cartosat-3 is India's highest resolution civilian spacecraft andis also the most complex and advanced earth observation satellite built by ISRO so far.
Congratulating and complimenting the satellite team for building and successfully launching the satellite, Dr Sivan greeted the entire team ISRO for the successful mission and the contributions made by the industry.
He said having achieved this what is next is the question.''We have 13 missions lined up up to March 2020'', he added.It comprised of six launch vehicle missions and seven satellite launch
missions before March next year, he added.
''Our hands are full as usual'', he said and exuded confidence that the team ISRO will rise to the occasion and meet the challenges and requirements and make every mission a grand success.
The release said "Cartosat-3 was a third generation agile advanced satellite having high resolution imaging capability.
One of its cameras offer a ground resolution of 25 cm, while the best ground resolution till now was 31 cm offered by WorldView-3, a satellite owned by US firm Maxar.
Mission Director S R Biju said the launch was unique since the PSLV was navigated for the first time using the indigenous Vikram processor designed by the ISRO and fabricated within the country.
The mission life of the Cartosat-3 was five years and it would address the increased user's demands for large scale urban planning, rural resource and infrastructure development, coastal land use and land cover, etc.
PSLV-C47 was the 21st flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with 6 solid strap-on motors).This was the 74th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota and ninth satellite of Cartosat series.
About 5,000 visitors witnessed the launch live from the Viewer's Gallery in Sriharikota.
PM congratulates ISRO on successful launch of PSLV-C47
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated the Indian Space ResearchOrganisation's (ISRO) space research team on the successful launch of Cartosat-3.
"I heartily congratulate the entire ISRO team on yet another successful launch of PSLV-C47 carrying indigenous Cartosat-3 satellite and over a dozen nano satellites of USA", he said on Twitter.
The Prime Minister further said that the advanced Cartosat-3 will augment India's high resolution imaging capability. "ISRO has once again made the nation proud!", he added.
Earlier in morning, in a flawless and textbook mission, ISRO's wokhorse launch vehicle PSLV-C47 successfullylaunched the 1,625 kg Cartosat-3--the third generation agile advanced earth observation satellite--and 13 nano satellites from the US into the desired orbit. Out of the 13 commercial US nano-satellites that were launched, 12 are FLOCK-4P satellites and one is a MESHBED communication testbed satellite. (UNI)
