Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched their nation's latest spy satellite RISAT-2BR1 along with nine foreign satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on December 11.
The other nine foreign satellites, along with Indian spy satellite are international customer satellites that are being launched under a commercial arrangement with New Space India Limited (NSIL). Among the satellites are USA's multi-mission Lemur-4 satellites, technology demonstration Tyvak-0129, Earth imaging 1HOPSAT, Israel's remote sensing Duchifat-3, Italy's search and rescue Tyvak-0092, and Japan's QPS-SAR, a radar imaging Earth observation satellite.
The following is the statement from ISRO.
PSLV-C48 successfully launches RISAT-2BR1 and nine commercial satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its fiftieth flight (PSLV-C48), successfully launched RISAT-2BR1, an Earth observation satellite, along with nine commercial satellites of Israel, Italy, Japan and USA from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
PSLV-C48 lifted-off at 1525Hrs (IST) on December 11, 2019 from the First Launch Pad of SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. PSLV-C48 was the 75th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the 2ndflight of PSLV in 'QL' configuration (with 4 solid strap-on motors).
About 16 minutes and 23 seconds after lift-off, RISAT-2BR1 was injected into an orbit of 576 km at an inclination of 37 degree to the equator.
RISAT-2BR1 is a radar imaging Earth observation satellite weighing about 628 kg. The satellite will provide services in the field of Agriculture, Forestry and Disaster Management. The mission life of RISAT-2BR1 is 5 years.
9 Commercial satellites were also successfully injected into designated orbit. These satellites were launched under commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
