New Delhi, Sriharikota: India on Monday launched a new surveillance satellite 'realised in association' with Israel. The satellite called RISAT-2 has day and night viewing capability, and is a bird that can keep a watch over India's hostile neighbors even when the landmass is covered by a thick cloud cover, this capability puts it in the class of what are often called 'spy satellites'.
The Indian security forces have been seeking such capability for a long time and the need to procure one quickly was precipitated after the Mumbai attacks. India's existing satellites get blinded at night and in the monsoon season.
India's new satellite launch has signalled a new era in India's space programme... ISRO has successfully launched a top-of-the-line spy satellite... a dedicated all weather surveillance tool for India's security establishment. India's smaller rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has put it in orbit. It promises to have many advantages over the current ones.
"You have a camera you can look for beauty and if you are an agent or agency person you can look for a weapon that is being hidden, it depends on the user," said Dr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation.
The satellite will take close up pictures from its perch of over 500 kilometers above Earth of say objects as small as a motorcycle.
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Day, night, see-through-cloud capability
It can see through thick clouds even at night
All these specialties most certainly will be used to track threats like militant training camps.
After the recent Mumbai terror attacks demand for such an eye-in-the-sky was felt by the security establishment.
The satellite will also help track incoming hostile ballistic missiles.
Although ISRO has been developing its very own RadarSat it was taking time which is why it approached Israel that developed the technology about a year ago.
Another smaller Indian satellite AnuSat also hitched a ride on the same rocket made by Anna University in Chennai.
In this 15'th launch of the PSLV, India has joined a select band of nations with spy satellite capability.
Indo-Israeli relations in space are at a new high ever since India launched Israel's very own spy satellite called TecSar over a year ago.