The PSLV-C16 carrying three satellites, including Resourcesat 2, a remote-sensing satellite, blasted off in textbook fashion on 20 April from the spaceport here at Sriharikota at the scheduled time of 10.12 a.m.
Eighteen minutes after lift-off the launch vehicle ejected the three satellites at their pre-determined position in what an official termed as ‘one of the most precise placements’.
Soon after the launch vehicle lifted off to cheers from the assembled dignitaries in the Mission Control Room, the first three stages of the rocket separated on schedule with the vehicle sticking to the appointed trajectory almost as if it was glued to it.
Addressing the scientists and mission control officials soon after the launch, a visibly happy ISRO Chairman, Dr Radhakrishnan Nair said: “I’m extremely happy to announce that the PSLV-c-16 Resourcesat 2 mission is successful. This is the 18th consecutive successful mission and the 18th remote sensing satellite launched by the country.”
The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr Narayanaswamy, congratulated the scientists and called the launch a landmark in the history of the country. “Our scientists have proved that they are experts in launching satellites,” he said.
Delays
The PSLV mission, numbered C16, was delayed by a few months. Set for a 10.12 a.m. ride from the Sriharikota launchpad, the satellite is a routine replacement of an earlier one. It will be placed 800 km from the earth.
The launch could not have come at a more apt time than now. The old reliable workhorse vehicle was last used in a July 2010 launch. ISRO’s next two launches of the indigenous higher-powered GSLV failed.
The organisation is still smarting from the ignominy of its (technically Antrix Corporation’s) now aborted S-band contract with private company Devas Multimedia.
ISRO’s spokesman, Mr S. Satish, said Resourcesat-2 (‘R2′) would continue the remote-sensing data services that Resourcesat-1 (‘R1′) provided since 2003.
Some 20 ground stations across the world receive data from nine Indian remote sensing (IRS) satellites, including Resourcesat-1 and sale of these Earth imageries forms 20-30 per cent of revenues of the Rs 900-crore Antrix (as at 2009-10).
Government agencies, including the US Department of Agriculture, buy IRS data of their own crops, he told Business Line, adding, “We developed the applications of the data within the country.”
R1, for example, has been a successful tool in a programme funded by the Union Agriculture Ministry and executed by the Department of Space through the State remote-sensing applications centres called FASAL (Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agrometeorology and Land-based observations).
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