Celebrating half century of PSLV missions, ISRO successfully launches RISAT-2BR1

Bangalore, December 11: Embracing another much awaited moment after the launch of Chandrayaan 2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today successfully launched India's latest spy satellite RISAT-2BR1 along with nine foreign satellites. The radar imaging earth observation satellite, RISAT-2BR1 has been launched through Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This is the 50th mission of PSLV. 

 

 

 

The workhorse PSLV, on its 50th mission, PSLV-C48 today lifted off from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 3.25 PM. PSLV also carries nine foreign satellites during the launch. The foreign satellites include one from Israel, one from Italy, one from Japan and six from the USA.

 

Sixteen minutes into the launch, the PSLV rocket would sling RISAT-2BR1 and a minute later, the first of the nine customer satellites would be ejected into space. The launch of the spy satellites and the other nine satellites is expected to conclude in about 21 minutes.

 

 

  

The countdown for the launch of PSLV-C48 mission commenced on Tuesday evening. Earlier, ISRO Chairman K Sivan offered prayers at the Tirupati Balaji temple in Tirumala before the launch of satellites from PSLV C48. While speaking to media, he said that PSLV C48 is a historic achievement by ISRO as this is the 50th launch for PSLV and 75th launch from Sriharikota.

 

 

According to the ISRO, the co-passenger satellites are launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL). The 628 kg satellite, meant for applications in various fields like agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.

 

The RISAT-2BR1 is the fourth satellite in the series. RISAT-2 was the first of the RISAT series to reach orbit and was launched on April 20, 2009. The satellite is mainly used for border surveillance, to deter insurgent infiltration and for anti-terrorist operations.

 

RISAT-1 was launched after the RISAT-2 as the latter’s launch was expedited after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. RISAT-1 was successfully launched by a PSLV-XL rocket on April 26, 2012. 

 

The RISAT-2B, capable of taking images during any time of the day and under all weather conditions, was launched on PSLV C46 on May 22, 2019.