PSLV-C34 / Cartosat-2 series satellite
- Expanding its horizons, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on launched 20 satellites through a single rocket, surpassing its 2008 record of launching 10 satellites in a single mission.
- The launch of the 20 satellites, weighing about 1,288 kg in total, a “major milestone” for the national space agency.
- Besides the primary Cartosat-2 Series satellite, the PSLV C-34 rocket launched two satellites from Indian universities and 17 foreign satellites, including one for a Google company.
- Sathyabamasat, the satellite of Sathyabama University in Chennai,
- the Swayam satellite of the College of Engineering in Pune,
- LAPAN-A3 (Indonesia),
- BIROS (Germany),
- M3MSat (Canada),
- SkySat Gen2-1 (USA) of Terra Bela (Google company),
- GHGSat-D (Canada) and
- 12 Dove Satellites (USA) were the other satellites that were launched.
- ISRO also ignited the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket twice after the separation of satellites in an experiment
- After the 48-hour countdown, the PSLV rocket lifted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 9.25 a.m. and, some 16 minutes later, placed the Cartosat-2 Series satellite about 505 km above the Earth’s orbit.
- In the next 10 minutes, the remaining 19 satellites were placed in the orbits.
- The 725.5-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite would be for Earth observation and its imagery would be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, and utility management like road networking, ISRO said.
- In 2008, ISRO launched 10 satellites in a single rocket. On April 28, 2008, its PSLV-C9 rocket launched a Remote Sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2A along with Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) and eight nano satellites.
- In 2014, Russian Dnepr rocket launched a record 37 satellites in a single mission.
PSLV C-34 specifications
Cartosat 2C
- The Cartosat-2 series satellite is the primary satellite carried by PSLV-C34.
- This satellite is similar to the earlier Cartosat-2, 2A and 2B.
- After its injection into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit by PSLV-C34, the satellite was brought to operational configuration following which it will begin providing regular remote sensing services using Panchromatic and Multi-spectral cameras.
- The imagery of Cartosat-2 series satellite will be useful
- cartographic applications,
- urban and rural applications,
- coastal land use and regulation,
- utility management like road network monitoring,
- water distribution,
- creation of land use maps,
- precision study,
- change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features and
- various other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.
- Launch of PSLV-C34/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite Mission took place on June 22, 2016 at 09:26 hrs (IST) from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.
- Type of Satellite: Earth Observation
Other Indian satellites
Sathyabhamasat – To collect data on green house gases(water vapour, CO, CO2, Methane, hydrogen flouride
Swayam- to provide point to point messaging saervices to HAM community
