It's been a good year for Indian Space Research Organization and now they are preparing, on December 7, to launch PSLV-C36 carrying remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A from the spaceport of Sriharikota. The PSLV C36 rocket measures 44.4 meters tall and is expected to place the 1,235 kg RESOURCESAT-2A into an 827km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit in about 18 minutes after lift off.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C36, in its 38th flight, will blast off at 10.24 AM from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota. RESOURCESAT-2A is a remote sensing satellite developed by ISRO and succeeds RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2 launched in 2003 and 2011, respectively. The mission life of the satellite is five years, and is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users and would carry similar payloads as carried by its predecessors RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2.
RESOURCESAT-2A will carry a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner camera, medium resolution LISS-3 camera and an advanced wide field sensor camera that operates in various bands. Additionally there will be two solid state recorders with a capacity of 200GB to store the images taken by the cameras that will be shared with ground stations.
PSLV has launched satellites in various orbits including Sun Synchronous Orbit, Low Earth Orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit and sub-GTO, in total registering 36 successful launches. According to ISRO between 1994 and 2016, PSLV has successfully launched 121 satellites of which 79 are from overseas, the rest were Indian satellites.
On September 8, ISRO launched advanced weather satellite INSAT-3DR onboard GSLV-F05, and again on September 26, in its longest ever mission spread over two hours, PSLV successfully launched eight satellites, including the country's SCATSAT-1 and five satellites from other nations, in two different orbits to achieve another milestone.
Recently GSAT-18, India's communication satellite, was launched on October 6 by Arianespace's heavy-duty rocket from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana.