The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has decided to call off the launch of a geo imaging satellite one day before it was supposed to launch from the Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at SHAR, Sriharikota.
ISRO tweeted out saying that the launch was cancelled due to technical reasons. However, they failed to actually mention what the problem was that caused the delay.
ISRO also said that they will let us know the revised dates for the launch in "due course."
The launch of GISAT-1 onboard GSLV-F10, planned for March 05, 2020, is postponed due to technical reasons. Revised launch date will be informed in due course.
— ISRO (@isro) March 4, 2020
This is the first Geo imaging satellite (GISAT-1) that was supposed to launch aboard the GSLV-F10. The entire launch sequence would have taken around 18 minutes 39 seconds to complete.
The GISAT-1
GISAT-1 is a state-of-the-art Earth observation satellite that weighs 2,268 kgs. It will be used in the real-time observation of the country. The GSLV-F10 will be used to place the satellite in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) at around 36,000 km altitude. The GISAT-1 will reach its final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system.
“Gisat-1 will do a full rotation of the Earth and come to the same point after every two hours. It is really good for fast imaging of the earth and can perform constant and rapid surveillance. If needed, the satellite can observe a point for a longer duration,” an ISRO source told the Times of India.
The GISAT-1 will also be used to monitor natural disasters, short term events and episodic events. It can also be used to monitor spectral signatures of agriculture, forestry and mineralogy as well as clouds, snow, glaciers, and the oceans.
The imaging sensors are the payloads of the satellite. They are as follows:
- Multi-spectral, visible and near-infrared @ 42 m resolution
- Hyper-spectral, visible and near-infrared @ 318 m resolution
- Hyper-spectral, short-wave infrared @ 191 m resolution