ISRO successfully launches earth monitoring satellite, 30 others into space

Adding another feather to its cap, ISRO’s workhorse rocket PSLV-C43 Thursday successfully injected into orbit India’s earth observation satellite HysIS.The Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS), an earth observation satellite developed by ISRO, is the primary satellite of the PSLV-C43 mission.

The mass of the spacecraft is about 380 kg, the space agency said adding that the satellite would be placed in 636 km-polar sun synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.957 degree.

The primary goal of HysIS, whose mission life is five years, is to study the earth’s surface in visible near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The co-passengers of HysIS include 1 micro and 29 nano satellites from eight different countries. All these satellites have been commercially contracted for launch through ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited.

PSLV-C43, which is the 45th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), is the ‘Core Alone’ version of PSLV. It is the lightest version of the launch vehicle.

The 30 other co-passenger international satellites including those from the United States of America and Australia among others, will soon be placed into orbit.

The space agency had launched its latest communication satellite GSAT-29 on board GSLV MkIII-D2 on November 14.