India launched a new ocean monitoring satellite on Saturday morning, using its PSLV rocket to deliver the EOS-06 spacecraft into a low Earth orbit. The mission, PSLV C54, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:56 local time (06:26 UTC).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
EOS-06, also known as Oceansat-3, is the latest in a series of satellites operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since 2009 to study and monitor Earth\u2019s oceans. It will replace Oceansat-2, which was launched in Sept. 2009, continuing its work and bringing enhanced capabilities to the role.<\/p>\n
The satellite\u2019s primary role is to monitor the color of the ocean surface and to collect data on wind speed and direction over the surface. This allows scientists to monitor conditions, such as the distribution of chlorophyll in the world\u2019s seas, phytoplankton blooming, and chemicals and minerals present in the water. As well as being of scientific interest, this research has practical applications, such as helping to locate suitable fishing grounds.<\/p>\n
The EOS-06 mission is part of ISRO\u2019s Earth Observing Satellite (EOS) series, which covers many of the agency\u2019s current and upcoming Earth science missions. With EOS, ISRO has returned to its former practice of naming all such missions under a single umbrella \u2014 which it previously did under the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) program before separating out individual projects in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n