ISRO will launch the PSLV-C42 rocket on Sunday carrying two foreign satellites. The rocket will blast off from ISRO's First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space in Sriharikota.
The fully commercial PSLV-C42 rocket will carry two British vehicles, NovaSAR-1 and S1-4 made by the Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited (SSTL) in the UK. Together, the pair of satellites will weigh 889 kgs, and will be released into a sun-synchronous orbit roughly 580 kilometres above the ground.
Once a space engineering spin-off from the University of Surrey, SSTL is now run largely by the Airbus Group’s Defence and Space division, which builds and operates SSTL’s small satellites.
NovaSAR-1 is a technology demo mission satellite developed by Airbus.It will test SSLT’s ability to provide earth observation and disaster management data for bidding customers. NovaSAR's communication frequency falls under the ‘S band’, a microwave region in the electromagnetic spectrum between 2 and 4 GHz in frequency. This is the most widely-used band for mobile broadband, weather monitoring and ship radars worldwide.
The satellite is built with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) capabilities – a superior kind of radar imaging technology that produces 2D and 3D visuals of landscapes. It also doesn’t rely on daylight to capture its high-resolution visuals.NovaSAR’s imaging prowess will be directed at monitoring forest, land use patterns and ice cover over time. It will also keep an eye out for potential floods and other looming natural disasters, according to SSTL’s press release.
On the other hand, its companion for the launch the S1-4 satellite, is a high-resolution Earth observation satellite.It can capture images of multiple different targets in a single pass above an area, the release says. All this clicking away at an impressive image resolution of under one meter.The satellite is designed for use in urban planning, land use and agriculture, as well as natural resource and disaster monitoring.
This will be the 44th PSLV and the 12th time it will fly as core-alone.
