India successfully puts three satellites into orbit

[News_Editor]

India successfully puts three satellites into orbit

2011-04-20 22:25:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

SRIHARIKOTA, INDIA (BNO NEWS) -- India on Wednesday successfully put into orbit three satellites using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket (PSLV), the Hindu newspaper reported.

This was the eighteenth mission of the PSLV-C16 under the command of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The rocket was launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

The PSLV rocket was launched at 10:12 a.m. local time and after an 18-minute flight; it successfully deployed the three satellites, Resourcesat-2, Youthsat (made by India and Russia) and X-Sat (a remote-sensing satellite from Singapore).

The satellites were put into an 822-kilometers orbit. Resourcesat-2 will replace Resourcesat-1 which was deployed in 2003. It is equipped with three cameras to monitor natural resources, such as water, minerals and fish, at different resolutions.

PSLV-C16 mission director Kunhikrishnan said that if everything goes as planned, the Bangalore center will receive data and images from Resourcesat-2 beginning on April 28.

The Youthsat is a stellar and atmospheric satellite built in conjunction by India and Russia. It will be used to investigate the relationship between solar variability and upper layers of atmosphere.

The third one, X-Sat was built by the Nangyang Technological University of Singapore and is the first of its country. The satellite is equipped with a multispectral camera IRIS to test new technologies on remote sensing and onboard image processing.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-20