PSLV-C36/RESOURCESAT-2A launch: Five things to know

RESOURCESAT-2A is scheduled to be launched on December 07, 2016 at 10:25 hrs (IST) from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has on Wednesday successfully successfully put into orbit its own remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A in a text book style.

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

Here are five things to know about RESOURCESAT-2A satellite:

• RESOURCESAT-2A is a follow on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, intended for resource monitoring.
• It was launched on December 07, 2016 at 10:25 hrs (IST) from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota onboard PSLV-C36.
• RESOURCESAT-2A will continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively.
• RESOURCESAT-2A could carry three payloads which are similar to those of RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2: a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner camera, medium resolution LISS-3 camera and an advanced wide field sensor camera that operates in various bands.
• It would also carry two solid state recorders with a capacity of 200GB to store the images taken by the cameras and which can be shared with ground stations.

On September 26, in its longest ever mission spread over two hours, PSLV successfully launched eight satellites, including the country's SCATSAT-1 and five satellites from other nations, in two different orbits to achieve another milestone.

ISRO said during 1994-2016 period, PSLV has successfully launched a total of 121 satellites, of which 79 are from abroad and the rest 42 being Indian satellites.