By Express News Service
BENGALURU: In its first space mission of 2022, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its Earth Observation Satellite-04 (EOS-04), radar imaging satellite early on Monday morning along with two co-passenger satellites on board Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C52) from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
The two other satellites are student satellites — INSPIREsat-1 (IS-1) from Indian Institute of Space science & Technology (IIST) in association with the Laboratory of Atmospheric & Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the National Central University (NCU) in Taiwan and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore; and a technology demonstrator satellite (INS-2TD) from ISRO, which is a precursor to India-Bhutan Joint Satellite (INS-2B).
The PSLV-C52 launcher, in the 54th launch of the PSLV series, will put the 1,710 Kg EOS-04 earth observation satellite into a sun-synchronous polar orbit of 529 km orbit. The launch of PSLV-C52 is scheduled at 5:59 am on February 14 (Monday).
The EOS-04 is a radar imaging satellite designed to provide high-quality images under all-weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry & plantations, soil moisture & hydrology, and flood mapping.
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The countdown process of 25 hours and 30 minutes leading to the launch commenced at 4.29 am on Sunday after authorization by the Launch Authorization Board, ISRO said in a tweet.
The IS-1 micro-satellite by IIST, LASP, NCU, and NTU — under the International Satellite Program in Research and Education (INSPIRE) consortium of universities with active space programs, formed to advance space science and engineering — carries a Compact Ionospheric Probe (CIP) developed at NCU, a Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer (DAXSS) developed at LASP, and a Command and Data Handling board developed by IIST. The IS-1 will study Earth’s dynamic ionosphere, the solar X-ray radiation, the Sun’s corona, and the temperature compared to its photosphere.
The agreement over developing and launching the India-Bhutan satellite INS-2B was signed by R Umamaheswaran, Scientific Secretary, Indian Space Research Organisation, and Jigme Tenzing, Director, Department of Information Technology and Telecom, Bhutan, on September 24, 2021, in a virtual ceremony attended by Ambassador of India to Bhutan, Ruchira Kamboj, Ambassador of Bhutan to India Major General Vetsop Namgyel, and other senior officials from the Government of India and Royal Government of Bhutan.
As per the agreement, four Bhutanese engineers are being trained at ISRO’s UR Rao Satellite center (URSC) from December 2020 in theoretical and technical aspects in the first phase, and on aspects of developing the INS-2B satellite for Bhutan and the precursor technology development satellite INS-2TD in the second phase. The date of launching INS-2B is yet to be confirmed.
The satellite will be used to map Bhutan’s natural resources and for disaster management. An India Bhutan Joint working group is implementing the project.
