PSLV-C52: ISRO To Launch First Satellite Mission Of 2022 On Monday

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C52, is scheduled for launch at 5:59 am on Monday, February 14, from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

New Delhi: On Sunday morning, the 25-hour countdown for the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first launch mission of the year began, the space agency said in a statement.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C52, is scheduled for launch at 5:59 am on Monday, February 14, from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, as part of the PSLV-C52/EOS-04 Mission. 

ISRO said in the statement that the countdown process of 25 hours and 30 minutes leading to the launch commenced at 4:29 am IST on Sunday, after authorisation by the Launch Authorisation Board. 

"PSLV-C52/EOS-04 Mission: The countdown process of 25 hours and 30 minutes leading to the launch has commenced at 4:29 hours today," ISRO wrote on twitter.

PSLV-C52, designed to orbit an earth observation satellite EOS-04, weighing 1710 kg into a sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 kilometres, will carry two small satellites as co-passengers, according to ISRO. 

The two satellites to be carried as co-passengers include one student satellite, called INSPIREsat-1 from Indian institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) in association with Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at University of Colorado, Boulder, and a technology demonstrator satellite (INS-2TD) from the Indian space agency. INS-2TD is a precursor to India-Bhutan Joint Satellite (INS-2B). 

What Is EOS-04?

EOS-04 is a radar imaging satellite designed to provide high quality images under all weather conditions for several applications such as Agriculture, Forestry and Plantations, Soil Moisture and Hydrology, and Flood Mapping, according to ISRO.

The two scientific payloads are designed to improve the understanding of ionosphere dynamics and the Sun's coronal heating processes, according to ISRO.

EOS-04 will collect Earth observation data in C-band, and complement/supplement the data from Resourcesat, Cartosat series, and RISAT-2B series.

INS-2TD, a technology demonstrator satellite from ISRO, has a thermal imaging camera as its payload. The satellite helps in the assessment of land surface temperature, water surface temperature of wetlands and lakes, delineation of vegetation, including crops and forests, and thermal inertia, during the day as well as night.

INS-2TD and INSPIREsat-1 have masses of 17.5 kilograms and 8.1 kilograms respectively. EOS-04 has a mission life of 10 years.

The mission of INS-2TD will last six months, while that of INSPIREsat-1 will last a year. 

The PSLV C5-2/EOS-04 Mission is the 54th flight of PSLV and 23rd mission using PSLV-XL configuration with six solid propellent strap-on motors (PSOM-XL).