
AsianScientist (Sep. 28, 2016) – India on Monday launched weather satellite SCATSAT-1 into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. The 371 kg satellite will be used for weather forecasting, typhoon detection and tracking studies.
SCATSAT-1 was carried into polar sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-35 (PSLV-C35), which completed its thirty-seventh flight. When in an SSO, a satellite will pass over the same part of the Earth at roughly the same local time each day.
Besides SCATSAT-1, seven other co-passenger satellites, including ones from Algeria, the US and Canada, and two from Indian universities—PRATHAM from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and PISAT from PES University, Bangalore—were also launched into orbits.
SCATSAT-1 was placed into a 720 km polar SSO while the others were placed into a 670 km polar orbit. This is the first mission of PSLV in which payloads were launched into two different orbits.
Representing the fifth PSLV mission for 2016, it brings the total number of satellites launched by India’s workhorse launch vehicle to 121, of which 42 are Indian and the remaining 79 are from around the world.
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Source: Indian Space Research Organization.
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