Resourcesat-2 satellite launch in January: ISRO

Bangalore, November 19: India’s premier space agency ISRO will launch Resourcesat-2 advanced remote sensing satellite on board home-made PSLV rocket in January.

The Bangalore-headquartered space agency held a mission readiness review in the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh today during which ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan and top ISRO officials were present.

The standard PSLV-C16, with six strap-on boosters, would carry Resourcesat-2, auxiliary spacecraft of Youthsat and X-sat.

Resourcesat-2 is a follow on mission to Resourcesat-1 to provide data continuity. Resourcesat-1, launched in October 2003, has outlived its designed mission life of five years and is working satisfactorily, ISRO sources said.

Youthsat, a microsatellite, is a participatory scientific mission with a payload from Russia and two from India. It is a micro satellite carrying scientific payloads.

X-sat is Singapore’s first indigenous satellite.

Meanwhile, ISRO is slated to hold tomorrow a mission readiness review vis-a-vis GSLV mission, which is expected in the last week of December.

–Agencies