India successfully deployed the RISAT-2B radar reconnaissance satellite for the country’s Air Force in the early hours of Wednesday. The satellite was launched aboard the homegrown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and deployed into a Sun-synchronous orbit.
The PSLV rocket carrying the 615-kilogram (1,355-pound) reconnaissance satellite was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 00:00 UTC (05:30 local time). Approximately 15 minutes after a successful launch, the RISAT-2B satellite was placed into a 555-kilometre (344-miles) Sun-synchronous orbit at an inclination of 37 degrees.
With this morning’s success, the PSLV rocket has completed 45 successful missions suffering just 3 failures. It was launched in the PSLV-CA (Core Alone) configuration without the addition of strap on boosters. 14 other missions had previously been launched in this configuration without a single failure.
The country’s next launch is expected to carry the Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon aboard a GSLV MKIII rocket. The Chandrayaan-2 payload includes a lunar orbiter, lander and rover all developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission is expected to be launched between July 9 and 16 and is expected to touch down on the surface of the moon in early September.
