PSLV-C36 with Heat shield closed (Source: ISRO) PSLV-C36 with Heat shield closed (Source: ISRO)

India’s latest Remote Sensing satellite, RESOURCESAT-2A, was Wednesday successfully launched by ISRO’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. RESOURCESAT-2A, intended for resource monitoring, is a follow on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively. It is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by RESOURCESAT-1 and 2.

“PSLV-C36 successfully launches RESOURCESAT-2A,” ISRO said. Describing it as a “successful” launch, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said it is going to provide continuity to “our three tier imaging data, which will be extremely useful for various applications of land and water.” He said “it has been a perfect launch.”

“I wish to congratulate the entire ISRO team for the wonderful job they have done and for putting one more operational satellite into orbit,” Kumar said.

PSLV-C36, the 38th flight of PSLV, blasted off at 10:25 hours from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and injected RESOURCESAT-2 into the orbit in a flawless flight lasting about 18 minutes. The 1,235-kg RESOURCESAT-2A was placed in an 817-km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO), ISRO said.

In this flight, the ‘XL’ version of PSLV with six solid strap-on motors was used. RESOURCESAT-2A carries three payloads which are similar to those of RESOURCESAT-1 and 2.

#WATCH: PSLV-C36 carrying Resourcesat-2A launched successfully from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota (AP) pic.twitter.com/Ecf5WmJy1y — ANI (@ANI_news) December 7, 2016

They include a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) camera operating in three spectral bands in the Visible and Near Infrared Region (VNIR), medium resolution LISS-3 camera operating in three-spectral bands in VNIR and one in Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) band, and coarse resolution Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) camera operating in three spectral bands in VNIR and one band in SWIR, with specified spatial resolutions, ISRO said.

RESOURCESAT-2A also carries two Solid State Recorders with a capacity of 200 Giga Bits each to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to ground stations, it added. The mission life of RESOURCESAT-2A is five years.

The satellite was earlier planned for launch on November 28. PSLV, ISRO’s versatile launch vehicle, has 36 successful launches to its credit so far. During the 1994-2016 period, PSLV has launched a total of 121 satellites, including 79 from abroad.

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