India launches first imaging satellite

By agencies   |   Thursday, 05 May 2005, 19:30 IST
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SRIHARIKOTA:Indian space program entered new phase with the successful launch of the worldÂ’s first stereographic mapping satellite CARTOSAT-1 and a micro satellite HAMSAT, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center here. ISRO used the indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C6) to send the satellites. The PSLV-C6, in its ninth flight, soared into the sky from the newly set up state-of-the-art Second Launch Pad at the space center that was inaugurated yesterday. The 295 ton and 44.4 meters tall workhorse launch vehicle lifted off at 10.14 am, and will place the satellites into a 618 kms Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). President A P J Abdul Kalam, who had dedicated the launch pad to the nation yesterday, watched the launch. This is the first launch from the second launch pad, which had come up at a cost of 4 billion. It is also the first time ISRO is launching two satellites in one mission. The most innovative feature of the 1.6-tonne CARTOSAT-1 is its pair of cameras, which will give stereo images of the earth's surface that can distinguish features down to 2.5 meters across. They will directly generate three-dimensional maps that have until now been achievable only indirectly, by combining data from a large number of satellites passes over the same place. "Such a stereographic imaging system does not exist in the civil sector anywhere else," said Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). "It will give information about heights that will be very useful in applications such as planning power lines," Nair added. Cartosat-1 will join INSAT, which is already the world's largest cluster of non-military remote sensing satellites. Six Indian spacecraft are already observing the earth with a wide range of instruments.