{"id":15036,"date":"2016-12-07T20:41:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T12:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/resource-mapping-satellite-blasts-off-from-india\/"},"modified":"2016-12-07T20:41:09","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T12:41:09","slug":"resource-mapping-satellite-blasts-off-from-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/resource-mapping-satellite-blasts-off-from-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Resource-mapping satellite blasts off from India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated after launch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The PSLV soars downrange from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Wednesday with the Resourcesat 2A satellite. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

India\u2019s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle delivered to orbit Wednesday the country\u2019s third space mission dedicated to mapping natural resources, closing out a record year for Indian launch activity.<\/p>\n

The Resourcesat 2A satellite rode the PSLV\u2019s 38th flight into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island, India\u2019s coastal spaceport on the shores of the Bay of Bengal about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the industrial city of Chennai.<\/p>\n

The 36-hour countdown began Monday, and ground crews filled the PSLV\u2019s second and fourth stages with their liquid propellants Tuesday. The rest of the rocket\u2019s propulsion system consumed pre-packed solid fuel.<\/p>\n

The 145-foot-tall (44-meter) PSLV XL rocket lit its first stage and four strap-on boosters at 0455 GMT Wednesday (11:55 p.m. EST Tuesday), and climbed through a heavy rain shower and low clouds from the so-called \u201cFirst Launch Pad\u201d at Sriharikota on 1.7 million pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n

The launch occurred at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday India Standard Time.<\/p>\n

Two more solid rocket boosters ignited around 25 seconds after liftoff at an altitude of around 9,000 feet (2,742 meters) to give the launcher an extra push.<\/p>\n

The first four of the 39-foot-long (12-meter) auxiliary motors burned out and jettisoned around 70 seconds after blastoff, followed by the release of the last pair of boosters at T+plus 92 seconds.<\/p>\n

The PSLV\u2019s solid-fueled first stage consumed its solid propellants by T+plus 1 minutes, 50 seconds, giving way to the rocket\u2019s hydrazine-burning second stage Vikas engine around 46 miles (74 kilometers) above Earth for a firing that lasted about two-and-a-half minutes with around 180,000 pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n

The rocket\u2019s on-board computer began closed-loop guidance during the second stage burn, and the PSLV\u2019s 10.5-foot-diameter (3.2-meter) payload fairing fell away from the launcher at T+plus 2 minutes, 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

The PSLV first headed east from the Indian space center, then turned south in a \u201cdogleg\u201d maneuver to avoid flying over Sri Lanka, accelerating to orbital velocity over the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

Once the Vikas second stage engine emptied its 42-metric ton (90,000-pound) supply of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, the PSLV\u2019s third stage \u2014 another solid rocket motor \u2014 ignited around T+plus 4 minutes, 23 seconds, for nearly two minutes, then coasted until separating from the rocket\u2019s fourth stage at around T+plus 8 minutes, 41 seconds.<\/p>\n

The twin-engine liquid-fueled fourth stage took control of the mission at T+plus 8 minutes, 51 seconds, for an eight-minute firing to reach the proper speed to enter the mission\u2019s targeted polar orbit.<\/p>\n

Separation of Resourcesat 2A, the mission\u2019s only payload, came nearly 18 minutes after liftoff, prompting applause in the launch control center.<\/p>\n

\"Once
Once of Resourcesat 2A\u2019s two solar array wings is extended during ground testing. Credit: ISRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Resourcesat 2A mission will track agriculture, water resources, soil contamination, and the growth of Indian cities. It is a follow-up to the Resourcesat 1 and Resourcesat 2 spacecraft launched by India in 2003 and 2011.<\/p>\n

The PSLV delivered the 2,722-pound (1,235-kilogram) Resourcesat 2A satellite to an orbit around 511 miles (823 kilometers high) at an inclination of 98.7 degrees, according to flight data displayed inside the launch control center and on India\u2019s live launch webcast. That is very close to the predicted orbital altitude of 514 miles (827 kilometers).<\/p>\n

Officials declared the launch a complete success.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we have the successful launch of Resourcesat 2A, which is going to provide continuity to our three-tier imaging data, which will be extremely useful for various applications of land and water,\u201d said A.S. Kiran Kumar, chairman of the Indian Space research Organization.<\/p>\n

Designed for a five-year mission, Resourcesat 2A carries three cameras to take visible and near-infrared pictures, and India\u2019s space agency said the new craft will extend the data pipeline previously fed by Resourcesat 2 launched in 2011.<\/p>\n

P. Kunhi Krishnan, director of the Satish Dhawan Space Center, said after the launch that the success was \u201cone more feather in the cap of PSLV, the most trustworthy launch vehicle of India.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have accomplished now 37 consecutive successful missions by injecting very precisely India\u2019s Resourcesat 2A into its orbit,\u201d Kunhi Krishnan added.<\/p>\n

The rocket launched Wednesday demonstrated several upgrades to the PSLV\u2019s avionics systems, including an improved navigation system, a fiber-optic gyroscope, indigenously-produced computer processors, and an automated fueling system for the launcher\u2019s fourth stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time, the propellant filling in the PS4 stage of PSLV was carried out in a totally remote fashion by modifying the ground servicing systems and also the PS4 stage,\u201d Kunhi Krishnan said.<\/p>\n

The streamline fueling procedure shaves one day off the PSLV\u2019s launch preparations, and also makes for a safer work environment for the ground team preparing the rocket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new avionics system flight tested on this mission will definitely provide useful input for the forthcoming missions, and also it will provide good data for finalizing the new-generation avionics architecture of our launch vehicles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s launch capped a record year for India\u2019s space program with the nation\u2019s seventh rocket launch of 2016 that carried satellites into orbit. India logged six PSLV flights this year, and one launch of the more powerful Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.<\/p>\n

The achievement eclipses the five satellite launches India made in 2015.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s next launch is scheduled for around Jan. 20, when the first orbital mission by the GSLV Mk.3 rocket will take off on a test flight to prove out the country\u2019s largest-ever launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated after launch. The PSLV soars downrange from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Wednesday with the Resourcesat 2A satellite. Credit: ISRO India\u2019s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle delivered to orbit Wednesday the country\u2019s third space mission dedicated to mapping natural resources, closing out a record year for Indian launch activity. The Resourcesat 2A satellite rode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[159,301,525,860,1240,3508,3509,2832],"class_list":["post-15036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-earth-observation","tag-india","tag-isro","tag-pslv","tag-pslv-xl","tag-pslv-c36","tag-resourcesat-2a","tag-shar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}