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India launches earth observation satellite Resourcesat-2A into space

Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

India Wednesday successfully launched its own earth observation satellite Resourcesat-2A into space from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota, a top official said.

"Today (Wednesday) we had a successful launch of Resourcesat-2A to provide three-tier imaging data. The satellite's solar panels were deployed. The launch was perfect," A.S. Kiran Kumar, the head of state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told the media.

The satellite was launched on board ISRO's indigenous polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-XL) variant rocket and after 18 minutes into the flight, the rocket put the 1,235 kilograms Resourcesat-2A into an 817 km polar sun synchronous orbit.

"This was for the first time that a camera was put on the rocket, and as a result the launch of the satellite and the deployment of solar panels were seen," Kumar said.

Resourcesat-2A is the third in the series of satellites -- Resourcesat-1 and Resourcesat-2 -- which were launched in 2003 and 2011, respectively. It will provide the same remote sensing data services to global users as by its predecessors.

Apart from three payloads, the satellite has a high-resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) camera operating in three spectral bands in the Visible and Near Infrared Region (VNIR) and it also has achieve a five-day revisit capability. Endit