New Delhi:
The Indian space agency (ISRO) is all set to put the loss of Chandrayaan-I behind it with the prospective launch of the remote sensing spacecraft Oceansat-2.
The satellite is poised to be launched into orbit on board the Polar Launch Satellite Vehicle (PSLV) from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at about 12 noon on Wednesday. The countdown is in progress.
NDTV's Science editor Pallava Bagla has more details on this mission specially targeted to help the Indian fishing community.
For India's workhorse rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, this will be the 16th mission in as many years. The rocket is about as high as a seven-storey building, weighs 230 tonnes and costs Rs 160 crore.
In its 20-minute journey the rocket will launch seven different satellites in space. The big brother on the mission is the 960-kilogram ocean and weather monitoring satellite.
Apart from Oceansat-2, the PSLV will also carry six smaller satellites in its womb. These are tiny educational satellites made by universities from Switzerland, Germany and Turkey and will test new technologies.
The new satellite costs Rs 70 crore.
The main purpose of Oceansat-2 is to identify potential fishing zones in the seas by monitoring ocean temperature and algal blooms. The ISRO says fishing advisories issued using data from this satellite have been very beneficial to fishermen. The new satellite will also carry instruments to measure wind direction and pressure, which will help India track the movement of devastating cyclones. With a constellation of nine remote sensing satellites already in space, India certainly is a space power to reckon with.