Thursday, September 24, 2009

India Launches OceanSat-2 Spacecraft into its orbit

Oceansat-2 is ISRO’s second in the series of IRS satellites dedicated to ocean research. Oceansat-2 Spacecraft will gather systematic data for oceanographic, coastal and atmospheric applications. This spacecraft will study surface winds and ocean surfaces strata, and will study atmospheric aerosols and suspended sediments in the water.

India Succesfully launched Oceansat-2 ( 16th remote sensing satellite of India) and six eoropean satellites within 1200 seconds. The launching took place at Sriharikota at exactly 11.51 AM on 23rd September, 2009.

At the end of 18 minutes of flight, the PSLV’s fourth stage injected Oceansat-2 into orbit at a velocity of 25,000 km an hour at an altitude of about 728 km. Thereafter, spring-loaded action mechanisms catapulted four nano satellites called Cubesat 1, 2, 3 and 4 into orbit one after another. Two more nano satellites named Rubinsat 9.1 and 9.2 remained permanently attached to the PSLV’s fourth stage. Soon after the satellites were put into orbit, Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite tracking centres started monitoring them.

PSLV - C14 had four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage, carrying 139 tonne of propellant, is one of the largest solid propellent boosters in the world. The second stage carried 41.5 tonne of liquid propellant. The third stage used 7.6 tonne of solid propellant and the fourth had a twin engine configuration with 2.5 tonne of liquid propellent.

Click here to Watch the Video of the launch

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