NEWSBRIEFS – Remote Sensing		
		     May 2008 | Comments Off on NEWSBRIEFS – Remote Sensing
	  			
  
    
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India’s                           leap into space
On April 28, 2008, ISRO’s Polar  Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C9,  successfully launched the 690 kg Indian  remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-  2A, the 83 kg Indian Mini Satellite  (IMS-1) and eight nanosatellites for  international customers into a 637  km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit  (SSO). PSLV-C9 in its ‘core alone’  configuration launched ten satellites  with a total weight of about 820 kg.  | 
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CARTOSAT                           -2A
  
CARTOSAT-2A is a state-of-the art remote  sensing satellite with a spatial resolution  of about one metre and swath of 9.6  km. The satellite carries a panchromatic  camera (PAN) capable of taking blackand-  white pictures in the visible region  of electromagnetic spectrum. The  highly agile CARTOSAT-2A is steerable  along as well as across the direction of  its movement to facilitate imaging of  any area more frequently. Soon after  separation from PSLV fourth stage, the  two solar panels of CARTOSAT-2A were  automatically deployed. The satellite’s  health is continuously monitored from the  Spacecraft Control Centre at Bangalore  with the help of ISTRAC network of  stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius,  Bearslake in Russia, Biak in Indonesia and  Svalbard in Norway. High-resolution data  from CARTOSAT-2A will be invaluable in  urban and rural development applications  calling for large scale mapping.  | 
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Indian                           Mini Satellite (IMS -1)
Indian Mini Satellite is developed by  ISRO for remote sensing applications. It  incorporates many new technologies and  has miniaturised subsystems. It carries two  remote sensing payloads – A Multi-spectral  camera (Mx Payload) and a Hyper-spectral  camera (HySI Payload), operating in the  visible and near infrared regions of the  electromagnetic spectrum. The spatial resolution of Mx camera is 37 metre with  a swath of 151 km while that of HySI is  about 506 metre with a swath of about 130  km. The data from this mission will be  made available to interested space agencies  and student community from developing  countries to provide necessary impetus to  capacity building in using satellite data.  The versatile IMS-1 has been specifically  developed to carry different payloads in  future without significant changes in it  and has a design life time of two years.  | 
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Nano                           Satellites for International Customers
Eight Nanosatellites from abroad are  carried as auxiliary payloads besides  IMS-1 as well as CARTOSAT-2A.  The total weight of these Nanosatellite  payloads is about 50 Kg. Six of the eight  Nanosatellites are clustered together  with the collective name NLS-4. The  other two nanosatellites are NLS-5  AND RUBIN-8. NLS-4, developed by  University of Toronto, Canada consists of  six nano-satellites developed by various  universities. Two of them – CUTE 1.7 and SEEDS – are built in Japan, while the other  four – CAN-X2, AAUSAT-II, COMPASS-1  and DELPHI-C3 are built in Canada,  Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands  respectively. The 8 nanosatellite are built  to develop nano technologies for use in  satellites as well as for the development  of technologies for satellite applications.  On April 29, 2008, the Multispectral  camera onboard IMS-1 was switched  on and high quality imagery covering  Allahabad to Rameswaram was obtained.  On April 30, 2008, the Hyper Spectral  Imaging (HySI) camera onboard  IMS-1 and panchromatic (PAN)  camera onboard CARTOSAT-2A  were switched on. Imagery from  HySI camera covered Uttarakhand to  Karnataka passing through Delhi and  Bhopal. PAN camera covered strips of  land from Saharanpur to Nuh (South  of Delhi) and Sangli to Goa Coast.  Data was received at National Remote  Sensing Agency (NRSA), Shadnagar,  Hyderabad. Quality of the imagery  received is excellent. http://www.isro.gov.in  | 
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Prime                           Minister congratulates Team ISRO
High quality imageries acquired  immediately after the launch of  Cartosat-2A and Indian Mini  Satellite-1 (IMS-1) were presented to  the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan  Singh at Delhi by Dr. G. Madhavan  Nair, Chairman, ISRO along  with a team of senior scientis  The Prime Minister was highly  appreciative of the success of the  PSLV-C9 mission which placed 10  satellites into orbit. He congratulated  the entire team for the magnificent  performance. The Prime Minister  was also briefed about ISRO’s  missions of the immediate future  like Chandrayaan-1 and new  initiatives related to the Manned  Spaceflight Programme. The Prime  Minister wished ISRO team success  in all its future endeavours.  | 
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