India launches all-weather earth observation satellite RISAT-1

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh, India), Apr 26 (PTI) Achieving yet another milestone in its space programme, India today successfully launched its first indigenous all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1 that will boost its remote sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management. The perfect launch of the satellite catapulted India into a select band of countries having indigenous radar imaging technology. Only the US, Canada, Japan and the European consortium have the technology so far. In a textbook launch, the 1,858 kg spacecraft, the country's first microwave remote sensing satellite, was injected into precise orbit by a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off at 5.47 AM Indian time (0.17 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, around 90 km north of Chennai. PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle of Indian Space Research Organisation, achieved its 20th consecutive successful flight when it launched RISAT-1, the heaviest satellite ever lifted by it, in a mission described as a "grand success" by the space agency chief K Radhakrishanan. RISAT-1 has the capability to take images of Earth during day and night, as well as in cloudy conditions. Till now, India depended on images from a Canadian satellite as existing domestic remote sensing spacecraft could not take pictures of Earth during cloud cover. "The satellite can give valuable data like soil moisture, glacier positions and other details," the ISRO chairman said. The satellite has been successfully deployed at an altitude of 480 km, Radhakrishnan said, adding it would be raised to its desired altitude of 536 km of Polar Sunsynchronous Orbit in the next three days. Hailing the launch, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was an important milestone in India's space programme and congratulated the ISRO scientists for displaying mastery of the complex launch vehicle technology. PTI Caption for pic: PSLV C-19, carrying the RISAT-1 satellite, takes off during its launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Thursday. PTI Photo