Cartosat-2A

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Cartosat-2A
Organisation ISRO
Mission type Earth observation
Satellite of Earth
Launch date 28 April 2008, 03:53 GMT
Carrier Rocket PSLV-C9
Launch Site SLP, Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Mission duration 5 years
NSSDC ID 2008-021A
Mass 690 kg[1]
Power 900 watts
Batteries Two 18 Ah Ni-Cd batteries
Orbital elements
Regime LEO[1]
Orbital period 97.4 minutes[1]
Apoapsis 630 kilometres (391 mi)[1]
Periapsis 630 kilometres (391 mi)[1]
Repeat Interval 4 days
Repetitivity 310 days
Instruments
Main Instruments One panchromatic camera
Spatial Resolution Less than 1 metre
Swath About 9.6 kilometre
Spectral Band 0.5 - 0.85 micrometre
Data Rate 105 MBPS after compression
Solid State Recorder 64 GB

CARTOSAT 2A is an Earth observation satellite in a sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite which is the thirteenth satellite in the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series has been built, launched and maintained by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It was launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - C9 on April 28, 2008 along with the 87 kg Indian Mini Satellite (IMS-1) and eight nano research satellites belonging to research facilities in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands [2]. This satellite is a Ministry of Defence mission of the Government of India.[3]The designation of the satellite could be presumed to be its similarity with its civilian name sake launched on January 10, 2007. It will be a dedicated satellite for the Indian Armed Forces which is in the process of establishing an Aerospace Command.[4]

The satellite carries a panchromatic camera (PAN) capable of taking black-and-white pictures in the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. The highly agile CARTOSAT-2A can be steered up to 45 deg along as well as across the direction of its movement to facilitate imaging of any area more frequently. The satellite's health is continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at Bangalore with the help of ISTRAC network of stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Bearslake in Russia, Biak in Indonesia and Svalbard in Norway.[5]

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