ISRO to launch RISAT-2BR1, 9 co-riders on Dec. 11

The earth imaging satellite’s uses are in identification of objects on ground, agriculture, mining, forestry, soil moisture, monitoring of the coast and sea ice and flood monitoring

A file photo of ISRO’s PSLV lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced radar imaging satellite RISAT-2BR1 as its next launch this month.

The 24-hour all-weather earth imaging satellite will be sent to orbit along with nine small customer satellites on December 11 at 3.25 p.m. IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota subject to weather conditions, a statement said on Wednesday.

The mission comes up just two weeks after Cartosat-3, which was orbited on November 27 from the SDSC.

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The upcoming primary satellite weighing 628 kg will be flown on the PSLV-C48. It will be placed in an orbit of 576 km and an inclination of 37 degrees.

Its co-passengers are six satellites of a U.S. customer and one each of operators from Israel, Italy and Japan, which signed separate launch contracts with the ISRO’s new company NewSpace India Ltd.

A RISAT’s uses are in identification of objects on ground, agriculture, mining, forestry, soil moisture, monitoring of the coast and sea ice and flood monitoring. It is useful in military surveillance.

The ISRO said this would be the 50th mission of the PSLV, which has been in service since the mid-1990s. It would fly for the second time in the recently introduced ‘QL’ configuration that includes four strap-on motors.

For the SDSC, it would be the 75th launch vehicle mission and the 37th flight from the older first launch pad.