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ISRO Launches Oceansat-2 Satellite

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Oceansat-2 satellite on September 23 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, 90 km north of Chennai.

Some interesting features of the launch and Oceansat-2 are:

• Launched by ISRO’s PSLV-C14 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) at 11:51 am IST.
• Sixteenth mission of PSLV and its fifteenth consecutive success.
• Launched as a replacement to 1050 kg IRS-P4 (Oceansat-1), that was launched on May 26, 1999 with Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and a Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) for oceanographic studies.
• Oceansat-2 satellite
  • Weighs 960 kg and powered by 15 Sq.metre solar panels to generate 1360 W with two 24 Ah Ni-Cd Batteries.
  • Injected into orbit at 1081 seconds after lift-off at an altitude of 728 km.
  • Sixteenth remote sensing satellite of India.
  • Carries three payloads: Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM); Ku-band Pencil Beam scatterometer (SCAT) developed by ISRO; Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmosphere (ROSA) developed by the Italian Space Agency.
  • OCM: the eight band OCM images a swath (strip of land or ocean) of 1420 km width with a resolution of 360 metre and works in the Visible and Near Infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  • SCAT: the Ku-band Scatterometer with a 1 metre diameter antenna rotating at 20 rpm, works at a frequency of 13.515 GHz; the Scatterometer covers a swath of 1400 km and operates continuously.
  • ROSA: GPS Receiver for atmospheric sounding by radio occultation.
  • Helps to identify potential fishing zones and can provide inputs for weather forecasting.
  • Mission life: 5 years

Along with Oceansat-2, six nano satellites in 2-8 kg range (Cubesat 1, 2, 3, 4 and Rubin 9.1 and 9.2) for international customers were placed into a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

View a video clip: ISRO launches Oceansat-2, 6 European satellites