Cartosat-2 successfully launched by ISRO

ISRO successfully launched the Cartosat-2 onboard the PSLV C-38 carrying 30 co-passenger satellites.

ISRO successfully launched its CartoSat 2 series satellite on Friday at 9:29 am. The launch vehicle is also carrying 30 nanosatellites into space.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

There are 29 nanosatellites are from 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, United Kingdom, and United States of America as well as one Nano satellite from India.

The Indian nano satellite weighing 15 kgs is from Noorul Islam University in Tamil Nadu. It can be used for agricultural crop monitoring and disaster management applications.

Nanosatellites weigh around 10 kgs and are included because the satellite launcher is capable of carrying more weight. The 30 satellites will together weigh 243 kg and the total weight of all the 31 satellites, including Cartosat, is about 955kg.

The Cartosat series are earth- observation satellites that are aimed towards collecting information. It is expected to be launched into a polar sun orbit at 505 km altitude. With a successful launch from the number of foreign satellites launched by India will cross 300.