Indian remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A successfully placed in orbit

The PSLV-C36 will placed the 1235 kg RESOURCESAT-2A into an 817 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) in about 18 minutes after lift off.

PSLV-C36 / RESOURCESAT-2A is scheduled to be launched on December 07, 2016 at 10:25 hrs- Image credit: ISRO

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday successfully placed its latest remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A in the orbit.

The remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A lifted off at 10:25(IST), December 07, 2016, from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota onboard ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C36), standing 44.4 metres tall and weighing 321 ton.

Around 18 minutes into the flight, the rocket slung the 1,235 kg RESOURCESAT-2A into an 817 km polar sun synchronous orbit.

"Today we had a successful launch of RESOURCESAT-2A to provide three tier imaging data. The satellites solar panels were deployed. The launch was perfect," A.S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO, said soon after the launch.

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

Gathering speed every second, the rocket raced towards the heavens amidst the cheers of the ISRO officials and the media team assembled at the port here.

In this flight, the 'XL' version of PSLV with six solid strap-on motors is used.

RESOURCESAT-2A is a follow on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2 launched in 2003 and 2011. It is intended for resource monitoring and will serve the nation for next five years.

The satellite carries three payloads, including high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4), two solid state recorders with a capacity of 200 Giga Bits, each to store images taken by its cameras which could be read out later to ground stations, ISRO said.

PSLV-C36 is the 38th flight of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

The Indian space agency said that the mission life of RESOURCESAT-2A is five years.