Countdown for ISRO's first launch mission of 2022 commences
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which will also carry two tiny co-passenger satellites, is set to launch at 05:59 a.m. on Monday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre's First Launch Pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
FollowThe countdown to the Indian Space Research Organization's first launch mission of 2022, to orbit earth observation satellite EOS-04 atop PSLV-C52, began early on Sunday, according to the space agency. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which will also carry two tiny co-passenger satellites, is set to launch at 05:59 a.m. on Monday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre's First Launch Pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
"PSLV-C52/EOS-04 Mission: The countdown to launch has begun at 04:29 hours today," the city-based ISRO announced in a tweet. The launch vehicle is intended to place the 1,710 kg EOS-04 earth observation satellite into a 529 km sun-synchronous polar orbit.
EOS-04 is a Radar Imaging Satellite designed to deliver high-quality photos in all-weather circumstances for applications such as agriculture, forestry, plantation management, soil moisture and hydrology, and flood mapping. The mission will also carry two tiny satellites as co-passengers, including a student satellite (INSPIREsat-1) from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in collaboration with the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics. It is also supported by NTU in Singapore and NCU in Taiwan.
This satellite's two scientific payloads aim to better understand of ionosphere dynamics and the sun's coronal heating processes. The other is an ISRO technology demonstration spacecraft (INS-2TD), which serves as a forerunner to the India-Bhutan Joint Satellite (INS-2B).
The satellite's payload, a thermal imaging camera, aids in evaluating land surface temperature, water surface temperature of marsh or lakes, vegetation demarcation (crops and forest), and thermal inertia (day and night). This will be PSLV's 54th flight and the 23rd mission using the PSLV-XL configuration with six PSOM-XLs (strap-on motors).
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