25-hour countdown begins for launch of Risat-2B

Chennai: The countdown for the launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying the radar imaging earth observation satellite, Risat-2B commenced on Tuesday. The Risat-2B weighing 615 kg will beef up country's surveillance capabilities from the sky. According to the Isro, the Risat-2B satellite will also be used be for agriculture, forestry and disaster management. About 15 minutes into its flight, the rocket will place the Risat-2B into an orbit of about 555 km.

 Isro's  48th mission, the PSLV-C46 will lift-off from the first launch pad at the rocket port in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at about 5.30 am on Wednesday. The PSLV rocket is the core alone variant without the strap on motors. The country also plans to launch another radar imaging satellite named Risat-2B later this year.

Isro chairman K. Sivan described the mission as “very very important” but did not elaborate.

“Tomorrow morning at 5.30 am, we are going to have the PSLV-C46 mission which is going to launch satellite Risat-2B and this is very very important mission for India...It is an excellent satellite with hi-fi earth observation (capabilities)”, he said.

Speaking to reporters after offering prayers at the famous Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati ahead of the launch, Sivan said that after Risat-2B , Isro would turn to Chandrayaan-2 which is scheduled for launch between July 9 and 16 “Everybody is looking very eagerly for that mission and Isro would look at landing the rover of Chandrayaan-2 (on Lunar surface) by September 6”, he said.
Risat-2B, which would replace Risat-2 launched in 2009, is equipped with synthetic aperture radar that can take pictures of earth day and night and also under cloudy conditions.

With a mission of life of five years, it would also be used for military surveillance, Isro sources said.

RisatT-2 has been actively used by India to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan to thwart infiltration bids by terrorists.

PSLV-C46 is the 14th flight of the PSLV in its core-alone configuration sans the use of the solid strap-on motors.

It would be the 72nd launch vehicle mission from Sriharikota and also marks the 36th launch from the first launch pad at the spaceport.

Tomorrow's launch of PSLV also marks the third launch in 2019.  

Previous launches by Isro in 2019 included the PSLV-C45/EMISAT Mission which successfully injected EMISAT and 29 international customer satellites on April 1.

Besides PSLV-C45, Isro had successfully launched PSLV-C44 which successfully placed Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2 satellites in the designated orbits on January 24, 2019.  Isro had launched Risat-1 (Radar Satellite-1), a microwave remote sensing satellite, on April 26, 2012, from Sriharikota.