ISRO to conquer oceans after moon!

After the success of Chandrayaan-1, ISRO is all set to conquer the Oceans!!

Today, ISRO launched the 2nd edition of the Oceansat satellite named Oceansat-2 and placed it into the orbit using a PSLV-14 launcher. The satellite was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The main objectives of OceanSat-2 are to study surface winds and ocean surface strata, observation of chlorophyll concentrations, monitoring of phytoplankton blooms, study of atmospheric aerosols and suspended sediments in the water.

Along with Oceansat-2 there were six other European nano satellites which were placed into orbit. After this achievement India crossed one more hurdle to become the leading nation in Space research.

The launch was started at 11.51 am and ended at 12.06 pm. Seven satellites were launched in 1,200 seconds. The payloads were Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM), Ku-band Pencil Beam Scatterometer (SCAT) developed by ISRO and Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmosphere (ROSA) developed by the Italian Space Agency.

The payloads and the nano satellites altogether weighed 960 Kg and were placed in orbit at an altitude of 720 Km. The mission life is expected to be around 5 years.

Oceansat-2 Lanch!!

ISRO spokesperson S Satish said: “It is known that PSLV has been a very successful launch vehicle. Countries realize it’s a vehicle or rocket very well suited for launch of nano satellites. We were on to our 16th mission with PSLV, at the same time Germany and Switzerland were looking for a mission. Our needs coincided and that’s how we have the six nano satellites.”

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair commented on the success as, “PSLV is like wine. As it ages, it gets better.”