India has successfully launched a new ‘spy satellite’ which is capable of keeping watch on the movements in the sensitive areas from the space, also thereby help the armed forces in conducting an operation like Balakot air strike.

The Indian Space Research Organisation better known as ISRO used its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to launch the 615-kg RISAT-2B satellite. The satellite is capable of clear viewing during the day, night and even under adverse weather conditions.

ISRO chief Dr K Sivan has said that the launch of RISAT-2B a “fantastic mission”. Dr Sivan also said that RISAT-2B has “special imaging capabilities to take strips of images and mosaics of images”. The launch also for the first time saw the use of made-in-India Vikram Processor.

The satellite was launched at 5:30 am on Wednesday and has been successfully placed at a low earth 557-kilometer orbit, which is suitable for detecting hostile installations as well as monitoring agriculture, forestry and possible disaster zones.

On the morning of February 26, Indian Air Force (IAF) had sent Mirage 2000 fighter jets to strike on a terror camp in Balakot, inside Pakistan territory. Some experts have speculated that heavy cloud cover at the time of the operation could have blinded Indian satellites, resulting in no photos, images or videos of the operation being released so far.

Now, with a new set of radar-enabled satellites, ISRO hopes to provide support to the Indian armed forces, which has the ability to keep track of activities across its eastern and western borders.

The RISAT-2B satellite is created at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad and is equipped with special X-band radar capable of providing better images. This is for the first time, India has launched its indigenous technology into the space.

The launch of RISAT-2B was completed in only 15 months and it has a life of about five years. The space agency did not release details or photographs of the satellite, considering that it is meant for strategic needs.

Earlier two radar-enabled satellites have been launched by India into space, which are RISAT-1 and RISAT-2, the second one is an acquisition from Israel.

ISRO is now preparing to launch the prestigious Chandrayaan-2 Mission, which is slated for liftoff between July 9-16 this year. Chandrayaan-2 Mission is going to be the first mission where India will attempt to soft-land a robot on the lunar surface.

With the Chandrayaan-2 Mission, India “would be going where no one has ever gone before which is to the south pole of the moon on the near side”, says Dr Sivan. ISRO has so far sent 354 satellites into the orbit and crossed a landmark of lifting a total of over 50 tonnes of material into the space with this launch.