The Hindu : National : Launch campaign for CARTOSAT-1 going well

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Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

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National

Launch campaign for CARTOSAT-1 going well

By T.S. Subramanian

An artist's impression of CARTOSAT-1 to be launched by the PSLV from the newly-built second launch pad at Sriharikota in early April.

CHENNAI, FEB. 1. The launch campaign at Sriharikota for putting into orbit CARTOSAT-1, the only satellite in the world for mapping/creating atlases, is progressing briskly.

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will put the satellite in orbit, at a height of 620 km above the earth, in the first week of April. It will also deploy a mini-satellite called HAMSAT for boosting communication among amateur radio operators.

Both the satellites have been built by the Indian Space Research Organisation Satellite Centre in Bangalore. While CARTOSAT-1 weighs 1,500 kg, HAMSAT weighs about 46 kg.

First flight

What adds to the importance of the mission is that the PSLV will be launched from the newly built, state-of-the-art second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

This will be the first-ever flight from the second launch pad. It is a "universal" launch pad from which different types of vehicles such as the PSLV and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) can be launched.

A PSLV, carrying a probe and a lander to the moon, will lift off from the second launch pad in 2007/2008. The second launch pad and its associated facilities have been built at a cost of Rs. 400 crores.

P.S. Goel, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, said: "This is the first time in the world [that] a satellite (CARTOSAT-1) with camera systems for cartography for taking stereoscopic pictures has been built."

The imageries will have a resolution of 2.5 metres and a swath of 30 km.

CARTOSAT-1 has two cameras; one will take pictures of an object ahead of it and another would do so from the rear. The height of the object will be revealed. "This is its unique part," Dr. Goel said. Japan had launched a similar satellite but the mission failed.

Mapping India

The satellite can cover 30 km everyday. Thus the entire country can be mapped in 100 days. "In a year's time, we can have the map of the whole world. Whatever limitations we had in mapping so far will be addressed by this satellite," Dr. Goel said.

By blending these maps with the imageries of RESOURCESAT orbited by ISRO in October 2003, information obtained on what is happening on the ground will be accurate. CARTOSAT-1 will last five years.

Since it's imageries will have a resolution of 2.5 metres, any object as big as 2.5 metres can be seen. The imageries can be used to create city maps, plan city development, draw road alignments and so on.

They will show what a city looks like from above giving a view of the buildings and their height.

HAMSAT will have two transponders — one made by ISRO and another built by Dutch amateur radio operators. Amateur radio operators, or HAMs as they are called, help establish quick communication during calamities such as the recent tsunami, earthquakes or cyclones.

Core stage

Dr. B.N. Suresh, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, said the first stage of the PSLV had been integrated at the second launch pad, and the strap-on motors had also been strung around the core first stage.

The flight is called PSLV-C-6. The VSSC has built the PSLV. This would be the ninth PSLV flight. Seven were successful in a row.

K. Narayana, Director, SDSC, Sriharikota, said the launch campaign, which began on January 5, "was proceeding as planned."

The integration of the PSLV was being done on a pedestal (big platform) in the Vehicle Assembly Building. After the four-stage PSLV, which is 44.4 metres tall and weighs 294 tonnes, is integrated on the pedestal, the massive vehicle will move on the pedestal on tracks to the second launch pad, from where it will race into the sky.

CARTOSAT-1 would arrive at Sriharikota from Bangalore in March to be integrated with the PSLV.

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