Tags Current Affairs

Issue

India sent its first space mission in almost a year with a launch of EOS-01, an earth observation satellite. EOS-01 was launched by a PSLV rocket along with nine satellites from foreign countries.

 

Details

• This is ISRO’s first mission since the launch of RISAT-2BR1, another earth observation satellite similar to EOS-01, on December 11 last year.

• After that, ISRO had also sent communication satellite GSAT-30 in space in January this year, but that was done using an Ariane rocket launched from French Guiana.

• EOS-01 is another Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) that will work together with RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1 launched last year.

• EOS-01 was initially named RISAT-2BR2, and was supposed to be the third of the three-spacecraft constellation aimed at providing all-weather round-the-clock service for high-resolution images.

• Land and forest mapping and monitoring, mapping of resources like water or minerals or fishes, weather and climate observations, soil assessment, geospatial contour mapping are all done through earth-observation satellites.

• The variant of PSLV used for the launch does not become waste after depositing its satellite in the orbit. Instead, the last stage of the rocket can acquire its own orbit and be used as an orbital platform for other onboard instruments to perform experiments in space.

• Of the nine foreign satellites being carried in the mission, four each are from the United States and Luxembourg, while another is a technology demonstrator from Lithuania.

 

Earth observation satellites

• These satellites use synthetic aperture radars to produce high-resolution images of the land. One big advantage that radar imaging has over optical instruments is that it is unaffected by weather, cloud or fog, or the lack of sunlight. It can produce high-quality images in all conditions and at all times.

• Depending on the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation used by the radar, different properties on land can be captured in the image.

• For example, a low wavelength signal can capture tree cover or vegetation, while a higher wavelength signal can penetrate even dense tree cover to look at the contours of land beneath.

• EOS-01 uses X-band radars that operate at low wavelengths and are considered best for monitoring of urban landscape, and imaging of agricultural or forest land.

• EOS-01 is used for applications in agriculture, forestry, and disaster management support. The radar images are also considered to be immensely useful for military requirements.