With the recent launch of Cartosat-2E, the Indian military now has 13 satellites in space working for it. The latest, the 712-kg Cartosat-2 series, can accurately identify objects in a 0.6mx0.6m square area. While the Cartosat 1 and 2 and Risat-1 and 2 series are used for surveillance, the GSAT-7 is used for real-time communication between aircraft, submarines, ships and land systems.

PAN Camera Cartosat-series satellite: Capable of providing scene-specific spot imagery

The satellite carries a state-of-art Panchromatic (PAN) camera that can take black and white pictures of Earth in the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. The swath covered by the camera is 9.6km; the spatial resolution is less than one meter. It can steer up to 45 degrees along and across the track, covering the entire globe in 1867 orbits on a 126-day cycle.

Military Surveillance Gave teeth to India's military surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities Credits:

The Cartosat-2C series satellite has been providing high-resolution images of 0.65 meters to the military, an improvement of over 0.8 meters resolution of the earlier missions. The first major use of the satellite by the military was during the Sep'16 surgical strike. The Army commandos counted on the images provided by the satellites to hit terror launch-pads across the LoC.

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