ISRO's RESOURCESAT-2 Will Send Photos From Thursday

The 18th remote sensing satellite by ISRO, which is a follow on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 will transmit first photographs on Thursday, April 28, confirmed Indian Space Research Organization. The satellite will provide remote sensing services to global users with multispectral and spatial coverage. The satellite was launched into the space on April 20, 2011. According to #-Link-Snipped-#, the RESOURCESAT-2 features enhancement of LISS-4 multispectral swath from 23 km to 70 km and improved Radiometric accuracy from 7 bits to 10 bits for LISS-3 and LISS-4 and 10 bits to 12 bits for AWIFS.

The RESOURCESAT-2 carries more payload than its predecessor, called as Automatic Identification System designed by COMDEV (Canada). This is particularly useful in ship surveillance in the VHF band get obtain accurate information about the exact location of the ship, its speed and track other parameters.

#-Link-Snipped-#
Image Credit: ISRO

The satellite also features mega storage for the high-resolution photographs taken during its mission. It's equipped with 200GB solid state storage devices to store images. Following chart gives a summary of the RESOURCESAT-2 : -

 
<table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mission&nbsp;


</td>
<td>Remote Sensing&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="135">Orbit&nbsp;


</td>
<td>Circular Polar Sun Synchronous&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="135">Orbit altitude at injection&nbsp;


</td>
<td>822 km <span style="text-decoration: underline;">+</span> 20 km (3 Sigma)&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="135">Orbit Inclination&nbsp;


</td>
<td>98.731º <span style="text-decoration: underline;">+</span> 0.2º&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lift-off Mass&nbsp;


</td>
<td>1206 kg&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Orbit Period&nbsp;


</td>
<td>101.35 min&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of Orbits per day&nbsp;


</td>
<td>14&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Local Time of Equator crossing&nbsp;


</td>
<td>10:30 am&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Repetivity&nbsp;


</td>
<td>24 days&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Attitude and Orbit Control&nbsp;


</td>
<td>3-axis body stabilised using Reaction Wheels, Magnetic Torquers and Hydrazine Thrusters&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Power&nbsp;


</td>
<td>Solar Array generating 1250 W at End Of Life, two 24 AH Ni-Cd batteries&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="135">Launch date&nbsp;


</td>
<td width="267">April 20, 2011&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="135">Launch site&nbsp;


</td>
<td>SHAR Centre Sriharikota India&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="135">Launch vehicle&nbsp;


</td>
<td>PSLV- C16&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mission life&nbsp;


</td>
<td>5 years&nbsp;

&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>