India launched RISAT-1. All-weather Earth Observation Satellite

               

                  Recently India successfully launched its very first indigenous all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1, that will boost its remove sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management. It is surely a revolutionary move by Indian government.

               In a textbook launch, the 1,858 kg spacecraft, the country’s first microwave remote sensing satellite, was injected in the precise orbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-19) about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off at the end of the 71 hour countdown from the well-known Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, around 90 km from the metro city Chennai.

              PSLV, the workhouse launch vehicle of Indian Space Research Organization, achieved its 20^th consecutive successful flight when it launched RISAT-1, the heaviest satellite ever lifted by it. It is considered as one of the most successful launch in Indian Space Research history. It added another feather of glory on India’s crown in Space Research World.

              RISAT-1, culmination of nearly 10 years of effort by ISRO, has the capability to take images of Earth during day and night, as well as in cloudy conditions, which is a pretty important and interesting feature of it. It is also the main USP of RISAT-1. Till now India depended from a Canadian satellite as existing domestic remote sensing spacecraft cannot take the pictures of Earth during cloud cover.