ISRO launches super surveillance satellite, can pierce cloud cover

Hindustan Times
May 22, 2019

In its third mission of the year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday successfully put into orbit an earth observation satellite that can see through thick clouds and enhance the country’s surveillance capabilities in military and civilian sectors to keep an eye also on terror camps across the border in Pakistan. Dubbed as a ‘spy’ satellite, RISAT-2B (Radar Imaging Satellite-2B) will replace its predecessor RISAT-2 which has been actively used by India to monitor activities in terror camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids by terrorists. RISAT was successfully launched in 2009.
The RISAT-2B is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar that can take pictures of the earth during day and night, and also under cloudy conditions, said an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO).
“It’s an all-weather satellite which can take images of the earth during the day, night and even cloudy conditions,” ISRO chairman K Sivan said.
The satellite, RISAT-2B, will use radar imaging for applications in forestry and agriculture as well for its five-year mission life. With a lift-off weight of 615 kg, RISAT-2B was launched aboard India’s workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV- C46), in the core-alone configuration without any of the six add-on engine.
The lift-off took place at 5.30am. The whole mission lasted just 15 minutes 25 seconds, much shorter than the last PSLV mission carried out this year.
The three-hour-long RISAT C45 mission in April injected into orbit an Indian intelligence gathering satellite, EMISAT, along with 28 international customer satellites. Wednesday’s was the second launch that people witnessed from the viewing gallery.
More than 5,000 people viewed the launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Wednesday’s mission takes to 50 tonnes the payload that ISRO has placed in space by launching 354 satellites, including national, student and foreign satellites.
Sivan praised the efforts of the team involved in the realisation of the piggyback payload carried on-board the mission. “RISAT-2B is an advanced earth observation satellite with an advanced technology of 3.6m radial rib antenna,” he said.
This will be the first mission of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, which was inducted into ISRO’s set of operational rockets after the second successful development flight carrying the 3423 kg communication satellite GSAT-29 in November last year.
Reference:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more