Monday, April 30, 2012

Risat-1 catapults India into a select group of nations


Space Daily via Indo-Asia News Service: On an early on Thursday morning, an Indian rocket successfully launched into orbit a microwave Radar Imaging Satellite (Risat-1) from the spaceport here in Andhra Pradesh, some 80 km from Chennai. With the launch of Risat-1, India has now joined a select group of nations having such a technology.
The indigenously built Risat-1, with a life span of five years, will be used for disaster prediction and agriculture forestry. The high resolution pictures and microwave imaging from Risat-1 could also be used for defence purposes as it can look through the clouds and fog.
..."PSLV-C19 mission is a grand success. This is the 20th successive successful flight of PSLV. India's first radar imaging satellite was injected precisely into orbit," ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said after the launch.
..."With Risat-1 we can now forecast Kharif season," Radhakrishnan said. According to satellite director N. Valarmathi, Risat-1 can take images in all weather conditions and during day and night. "The satellite has high storage device and other several unique features," she added.
...Remote sensing satellites send back pictures and other data for use. India has the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites in the world providing imagery in a variety of spatial resolutions, from more than a metre ranging up to 500 metres, and is a major player in vending such data in the global market....
I look forward to running an image from Risat-1, instead of this old shot from NASA of Southern India

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