Countdown begins for launch of ISRO’s third generation earth imaging satellite ‘Cartosat-3’

The 26 hour
countdown for the launch of ISRO’s third generation earth imaging satellite
Cartosat-3 along with 13 commercial nano satellites from the US began at 7.28
hrs today.

The launch
is scheduled at 09:28 hrs IST on November 27 subject to weather conditions. The
satellites will be launched by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C47
into a Sun Synchronous Orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota
in Andhra Pradesh.PSLV-C47 is the 21st flight of PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration
(with 6 solid strap-on motors).

The
Cartosat-3 is a third generation agile advanced satellite having high
resolution imaging capability.

The 1625 kg
satellite will be placed in an orbit of 509 km at an inclination of 97.5
degrees.Cartosat-3 is more advanced than its predecessor Cartosat- 2 as it will
have a powerful resolution of point 25 metre which means that it can
distinguish objects separated by as little as 25 centimetres.

It will also
have a wider spatial range of 16 km in the panchromatic mode compared to
previous satellites.

Cartosat 3
will also have multispectral capabilities(the ability to capture light within
specific ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum) and hyper spectral capabilities
(the ability to capture light from across the electromagnetic spectrum).

The
satellite will provide various spatial, spectral and temporal data for
cartographic applications in areas like urban planning, agriculture, water
resource management, rural resource and infrastructure development,
environment, forestry, ocean resources and disaster management.