Sriharikota, Oct 17: India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle today successfully injected the heaviest and most sophisticated indigenously built remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-1 into orbit from here. The PSLV-c5 soared into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, amidst unexpected heavy downpour, at 10:22 am and 17 minutes later put the 1,360 kg satellite into the sun synchronous orbit, 817 kms above Earth.

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair described it as a "textbook" launch in one of the most difficult weather conditions.

The jubilant scientists at this spindle-shaped island off the Andhra Pradesh coast were greeted by President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for their spectacular achievement.

The success of PSLV is significant for the space programme as it has been tipped to carry India's maiden lunar mission slated for a 2008 launch.

Speaking to newsmen after the launch, Nair said the signals received from the satellite indicated it was in good health.

Congratulating the team members for the successful launch Nair said, "the credit goes to the ISRO for its remarkable achievement."

Union Minister of State for Space Satyabrata Mookherjee, who witnessed the launched, said it was a matter of pride that the PSLV had completed yet another successful mission in a row demonstrating its capability.

The launch of Resourcesat-1, was the eighth successful mission in a row of the 10-year old PSLV programme.

The PSLV, originally designed to carry a 1,000 kg payload, had undergone modifications over the years enhancing its capacity and capability to place multiple satellites into space -- also in the geo-synchronous orbit.

"We had a very difficult situation basically weather wise. However, this has provided an opportunity to prove that PSLV is an all weather vehicle and the launch facility at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre can withstand moderately any bad weather conditions," the ISRO chairman said.

In the backdrop of China's successful manned space mission, Nair said that the perfect launch of PSLV-C5 and the injection of Resourcesat-1 into orbit at a total cost of Rs 230 crore was equivalent to putting half a dozen people in space for five or six years.

Resourcesat-1 joins the four Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites already in orbit and strengthens the agency's Earth observation capabilities.

The data available from the IRS satellites has several national and international subscribers and earns a revenue of over Rs 150 crore.

Resourcesat-1, the 10th satellite in the IRS series, is the most advanced remote sensing satellite built by ISRO so far.

Resourcesat-1 carries a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (Liss-4) operating in spectoral bands in the Visible and Near Infra-red Region (VNIR), one medium resolution LISS-3 operating in spectoral bands in VNIR and one in the Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) band.

The satellite is equipped with an Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWIFS) operating in three spectoral bands in VNIR and one band in SWIR.

The satellite also carries a solid state recorder with a capacity of 120 giga bits to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to various ground stations. According to ISRO sources, resourcesat-1 will be followed by Cartosat-1 (IRS-P5) that will provide a 2.5 metre spatial resolution stereo imagery using two panchromatic cameras.

Cartosat-1, scheduled to be launched by 2004-05, is intended to provide terrain height information and will considerably improve the contour information for developmental applications of relevance to urban management and other applications.

Another remote sensing satellite, radar imaging satellite (RISAT) carrying a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) presently under development by ISRO and planned for launch in 2006 will enhance all weather remote sensing capability in areas of agriculture and disaster management.
Bureau Report