The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch the Earth Observation Satellite on August 12. The Earth Observation Satellite, also known as the Geo Imaging Satellite – 1 (GISAT-1), was originally scheduled to be launched last year in March, but it was cancelled due to a technical glitch. With this launch on August 12, the space agency will once again resume launching satellites.

The GISAT-1 will be launched onboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10 (GSLV) at 5.43 am on August 12 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The satellite will be placed in the geosynchronous transfer orbit by GSLV, after which it will move in sync with Earth. The satellite will have payload imaging sensors of six-band multi-spectral visible and near infra-red with 42 metres resolution, 158 bands hyper-spectral visible and near infra-red with 318 metres resolution and 256 bands hyper-spectral short wave infra-red with 191 metres resolution.

The GSLV flight will be carrying the GISAT-1 satellite in a 4m diameter-Ogive shaped payload fairing. The fairing capsule, which has undergone changes, will also act as the cargo hold. This satellite will be flown for the first time on the rocket which has so far carried 13 other flights successfully.

Once deployed in space, the Earth Observation Satellite is expected to play a key role in disaster management and mitigation. With the help of the satellite, near real time monitoring of natural disasters will be possible with mapping done four to five times a day all over India. Once the data is received, weather and environmental changes will be tracked and shared with various agencies.

This would be the second flight for the GSLV Mk III. The first flight had launched the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft to the Moon and was a singular achievement for the engineers at ISRO for they had placed the spacecraft in a higher orbit and also saved fuel.

ISRO plans to launch four more satellites in the next five months. The next in line to be launched in September is the EOS-4, a radar imaging satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), that allows images to be captured night and day, and through cloud covers. The EOS-4 will be onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and will be an integral part of the defence system as it will be able to capture images through clouds and observe in infrared.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)