ISRO launches PSLV C49 with EOS-01, nine foreign satellites

This is the first mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) this year

In its first space mission in nearly a year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) with the Earth observation EOS-01 and nine other foreign satellites. This is the PSLV’s 51st mission.

The last time ISRO launched a satellite from Indian soil was on December 11, 2019, when the earth observation RISAT-2BR1 was placed in orbit. In January this year, the space agency had launched the GSAT-30 from French Guiana.

Launched at 3.12 pm on Saturday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, the EOS-01 is designed to provide satellite support in agriculture, forestry and disaster management. In a tweet, ISRO informed that the nine customer satellites were launched under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.

Among the customer satellites, one is from Lithuania for technology demonstration, four from Luxembourg for maritime applications and four from the United States for multi-mission remote sensing.

The synthetic aperture radars onboard EOS-01 are designed to capture high-resolution images of the terrain. Radar imaging is unaffected by weather changes. High wave-length signals from the radars are capable of penetrating even dense tree covers.