Cartosat 2C

Launch data: Designation  41599 / 16040A Launch date  22 June 2016 - 03:55 UT Launch site  Sriharikota, SLP Launch vehicle  PSLV-XL Mission  Government: Earth observing, Imaging LEO, Sun-Synchronous Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  506 x 525 km Eccentricity  1,31E-03 Inclination  97.5° Period  94.8 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• CARTOSAT 2C is a military Indian satellite able to resolve objects on the ground as small as 60 centimeters (2 feet). ISRO did not disclose the Cartosat 2 series satellite′s capabilities or reveal a specific name for the imaging platform. With a launch weight of 1,604 pounds (more than 727 kilograms), the satellite carries visible cameras to capture black-and-white and color imagery during a five-year mission. The imagery sent by the CARTOSAT 2C will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, precision study, change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features, and various other Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

Mission details:

• India launched a Cartosat-2 series imaging satellite on Jun 22 into a 500 x 518 km orbit. The PSLV rocket then deployed a swarm of small satellites:

           Time (UTC)      Satellite
           0412:07         Cartosat-2C, 727 kg
           0412:42         Sathyabamasat, 1.5 kg 2U cubesat for Sathyabama U. of Chennai with a greenhouse-gas IR spectrometer
           0412:43         Swayam, 1 kg 1U cubesat from COEP (College of Engineering, Pune) with technology and amateur radio payloads.
           0413:22         LAPAN-A3, a 120 kg imaging satellite for Indonesia's LAPAN space agency
                           BIROS, a 130 kg infrared satellite to study fires, for Germany's DLR, which also carries the BEESAT-4 cubesat to be ejected later.
           0414:00         M3MSat/earthView-7, an 85 kg AIS satellite for Canada's Dept of National Defense
           0414:01         Skysat Gen2-1, a 110 kg imaging satellite for TerraBella's constellation
           0414:20         Claire, a 25 kg University of Toronto satellite to study greenhouse gases.
           0415:20 to 0421:30  Flock 2p-1 to 2p-12, 3U imaging cubesats for Planet (formerly PlanetLabs).
  

• The PS4 final stage then made two burns to lower its orbit to 447 x 480 km.

External links:

• Satellite tracking: Real time satellite tracking