Countdown For Launch Of ISRO's Earth Observation Satellite Begins

The 26-hour countdown for the launch of earth observation satellite onboard GSLV-F10 commenced on Wednesday, Indian Space Research Organisation said.

The launch of the satellite would be the second for ISRO in 2021 after its successful mission in February, which was Brazil's earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 and 18 co-passenger satellites.

Thursday's launch was originally planned in April or May this year but the exercise was postponed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Countdown for the launch of GSLV-F10/EOS-03 mission commenced today at 0343 hours from Satish Dhawan Space Centre", Sriharikota, the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said in a notification.

The earth observation satellite would provide real time images of the country and borders and also able to quick monitor of natural disasters.

"The state-of-the-art agile Earth Observation satellite EOS-03 will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10. Subsequently, the satellite will reach the final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system", ISRO said in another notification.

The mission was the first flight of GSLV with a four metre dia Ogive Payload fairing that can accommodate larger payloads, ISRO said.

According to ISRO, the filling of propellant for the liquid strap-on motors located on the sides of the rocket has been completed.

The lift-off is scheduled at 05.43 am from the second launch pad at Sriharikota about 100kms from Chennai and the separation of the earth observation satellite 03 was expected to take place after 19 minutes.

The objective of the mission was to provide near real time imaging of large area region at frequent intervals; for quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, water bodies as well as for disaster warning, cyclone monitoring, cloud burst and thunderstorm monitoring.

The mission life is 10 years, ISRO said. Previous launches of GSLV include the GSLV-MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 mission on July 2019 while GSLV-F11 successfully placed GSAT-7A in December 2018.

The previous earth observation satellite was launched by ISRO in November 2020 onboard a polar satellite launch vehicle.

"PSLV-C49 successfully placed the EOS-01 on November 7, 2020. The mission objective was a disaster management system, earth observation. It was intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support," ISRO said.