The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully made history on Wednesday by launching earth observation satellite RISAT-2B that would enhance the country scrutiny capabilities among others.
The agency's trusted captive Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C46) began 25-hour countdown on Tuesday, blasted off at 5.30am from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota on its 48th mission, carrying the 615 kg satellite.
The satellite RISAT-2B (Radar Imaging Satellite-2B) launched by Indian Space Research Organisation is meant for operation in fields such as agriculture, surveillance, forestry and disaster management support, was released into the orbit around 15 minutes after the lift-off.
With a mission life of five years, the satellite would also be used for military surveillance, ISRO sources said. The RISAT-2B is also loaded with incredible synthetic aperture radar that can take pictures of the earth also under cloudy conditions even during day and night.
The RISAT-2B satellite would replace the RISAT-2, which was successfully launched in 2009. This satellite has been used since 2009 by India to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids by terrorists. An activity in camps across the Border in Pakistan has been monitored by Indian Satellite RISAT-2 since 2009 to thwart penetrate bids by terrorists.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan had previously described the mission as a "very, very important" one for the country. "This is a very, very important mission for India. It is an excellent satellite with hi-fi earth observation (capabilities)," he said.
The other two were the PSLV-C45/EMISAT mission, which successfully introduced the EMISAT and 29 international customer satellites into their orbits on April 1, and the PSLV-C44, which successfully placed the Microsat-R and the Kalamsat-V2 satellites in appointed orbits on January 24. ISRO had launched RISAT-1, a microwave remote sensing satellite, on April 26, 2012 from Sriharikota.