SRIHARIKOTA, AP : The Countdown for the launch of the versatile Polar Satellite Launch vehicle (PSLV-C36) tomorrow at 1025 hrs from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here is going on smoothly.
The 36 hour count down commenced at 2225 hrs yesterday after the mission readiness Review Committee and the Launch Authorisation Board cleared the launch.
PSLV-C36 will place the 1235 kg RESOURCESAT-2A into an 817 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) after it blasts off from the first launch pad here.
Launch Vehicle handlers today filled Mono Methyl Hydrazine (MMH) fuel and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen (MON-3) oxidiser in the fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C36 were completed today, ISRO sources said.
RESOURCESAT-2A is a Remote Sensing satellite intended for resource monitoring. It is a follow on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively. The satellite is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by these satellites.
RESOURCESAT-2A carries three payloads which are similar to two of its predecessors. They are a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) camera operating in three spectral bands in the Visible and Near Infrared Region (VNIR) with 5.8 m spatial resolution and steerable up to ? 26 deg across track to achieve a five day revisit capability.
The second payload is the medium resolution LISS-3 camera operating in three-spectral bands in VNIR and one in Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) band with 23.5 m spatial resolution.
The third payload is a coarse resolution Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) camera operating in three spectral bands in VNIR and one band in SWIR with 56 m spatial resolution.
RESOURCESAT-2A carries two Solid State Recorders with a capacity of 200 GB each to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to ground stations.
PSLV-C36 is the thirty eighth flight of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). In this flight, the ‘XL’ version of PSLV with six solid strap-on motors is used.
PSLV is the ISRO’s versatile launch vehicle for launching multiple satellites in polar SSOs, Low Earth Orbits (LEO) as well as Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and sub GTO.
With 36 successful launches, PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO and is offered for launching satellites for international customers.
During 1994-2016 period, PSLV has launched a total of 121 satellites, of which 79 satellites are from abroad and 42 are Indian satellites.
(AGENCIES)
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