Earth Observation Satellite : Daily Current Affairs

Earth Observation Satellite

Why in NEWS ?

  • ISRO to launch earth observation satellite EOS-01 on November 7,2020.

About

  • India would launch its latest earth observation satellite EOS-01 and nine international customer spacecraft onboard its PSLV-C49 rocket from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 7.
  • EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
  • The customer satellites are being launched under commercial agreement with New Space India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.
  • This is the first launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation since the COVID- 19-induced lockdown came into force in March.
  • ISRO chairman K. Sivan said in June that 10 space missions being prepared for launch in 2020 have been “disturbed” due to the lockdown.

Earth Observation Satellites

  • An Earth observation satellite or remote sensing satellites is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, cartography and others
  • Starting with IRS-1A in 1988, ISRO has launched many operational remote sensing satellites.
  • Today, India has one of the largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in operation.
  • Currently, 13 operational satellites are in Sun-synchronous orbit – RESOURCESAT-1, 2, 2A CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and SCATSAT-1, and 4 in Geostationary orbit- INSAT-3D, Kalpana & INSAT 3A, INSAT-3DR.
  • Varieties of instruments have been flown onboard these satellites to provide necessary data in a diversified spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to cater to different user requirements in the country and for global usage.
  • The data from these satellites are used for several applications covering agriculture, water resources, urban planning, rural development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, ocean resources and disaster management.

EOS-01

  • EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
  • The launch is tentatively scheduled at 3.02 p.m. IST on November 7 subject to weather conditions” from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
  • This will be the 51st mission of ISRO’s workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.