On Saturday, November 26, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) conducted a successful launch of PSLV-C54 carrying Oceansat-3 also known as Earth Observation Satellite-6, and 8 nanosatellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The 44.4 metres tall PSLV-C54 was launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at 11:56 am.
ISRO chairman S Somanath said that the Earth Observation Satellite, or Oceansat-3, successfully detached from the rocket and was placed into orbit 17 minutes after PSLV-C54 lifted off.
The ISRO chairman congratulated the team for “yet another successful mission in the series of the many years of their journey.”
Notably, EOS-6 is the Oceansat series’ third-generation satellite. Listing out the objectives of the mission ISRO stated that the mission aims to maintain the operational applications, ensuring the data continuity of ocean colour and wind vector data. Additional datasets such as sea surface temperature and a greater number of bands in the optical region for fluorescence and in the infrared region for atmospheric corrections are accommodated to improve the applications. Moreover, to develop related algorithms and data products for use in well-established application areas and to improve mission functionality.
This is the 56th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the 24th Flight of the PSLV-XL version with 6 PSOM-XLs.
About the satellites
INDIA-BHUTAN SAT: ISRO Nano Satellite-2 for Bhutan (INS-2B) spacecraft is outfitted with an INS-2 Bus. The NanoMx and APRS-Digipeater payloads are carried by INS-2B.
Anand: The Anand Nano satellite is a technology demonstrator that uses a microsatellite in Low Earth Orbit to demonstrate the capabilities and commercial applications of a miniaturized earth-observation camera.
Astrocast: Astrocast is a 3U spacecraft that serves as a technology demonstrator satellite for the Internet of Things (IoT).
Thybolt: Thybolt is a 0.5U spacecraft bus with a communication payload that allows for rapid technology demonstration and constellation development for multiple users. It also demonstrates Store-and-Forward functionality in the amateur frequency band for authorized users. The satellites are deployed using the Dhruva Space Orbital Deployer to carry out specific mission operations for a minimum of one year.