Gathering speed every second, the rocket raced towards the heavens amidst the cheers of the ISRO officials and the media team assembled at the port in Sriharikota.
At the rocket mission control room, Indian space scientists at ISRO were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the Earth’s gravitational pull.
Around 18 minutes into the flight, the rocket slung the 1,235 kg Resourcesat-2A into an 817 km polar sun synchronous orbit.
The PSLV rocket is a four stage/engine rocket powered by solid and liquid fuel alternatively.
According to ISRO, Resourcesat-2A is a follow on mission to Resourcesat-1 and Resourcesat-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively.
The new satellite Resourcesat-2A is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by it two predecessors.
The RESOURCESAT-2A carries three payloads which are similar to those of the earlier two Resourcesat’s.
They are a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) camera operating in three spectral bands in the Visible and Near Infrared Region (VNIR) with 5.8 m spatial resolution and steerable up to 26 degree across track to achieve a five day revisit capability.
