The PSLV-C19, the newest in the series of polar satellite launch
vehicles of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), burst off the
launch-pads of Sriharikota in the wee hours of Thursday on its space
mission of placing indigenously developed Radar Imaging Satellite the RISAT-1 in a polar circular orbit.
After a customarily tense countdown at the ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, at precisely 5.47 a.m., the launch vehicle’s core
stage igniters and set of six strap-on motors ignited within seconds of
each to signal the successful lift-off of the PSLV-C19 with the RISAT
-1
The RISAT-1 with a payload of 1858 kg, the heaviest satellite being
launched yet by the PSLV, is a state-of-the-art Active Microwave Remote
Sensing Satellite carrying a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload that
will operate in the C-band. In simpler terms, the RISAT-1 can beam back
imaging of the earth surface features during day and night and under
all imagined weather conditions. The SAR which gives the RISAT-1 its
magic lens also makes it superior to the generation of optical remote
sensing satellites in terms of clearer imaging at all times and under
any condition.
Once the PSLV-C19 successfully completed each of the four stages of its
flight in a span of 18 minutes and reported normal parameters,
congratulatory scenes broke out at the Mission Directorate at
Sriharikota.
Addressing the team of scientists and engineers, ISRO Chairman K.
Radhakrishnan said he was happy to announce that the PSLV-C19 was a
“grand success” and had injected into polar orbit India's first Radar
Imaging Satellite. source:The Hindu, ISRO
