Article Posted on : - Apr 29, 2011

BANGALORE (BNS): India’s latest remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2, launched last week, has begun transmitting images from space.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) received first set of high quality images on Thursday after three of the satellite’s cameras were switched on.

“The three multispectral cameras onboard Resourcesat-2, namely Advanced Wide-Field Sensor (AWiFS) with 56 meter spatial resolution, the Linear Imaging Self-Scanning Sensor (LISS-III) with 23.5 meter spatial resolution and LISS-IV Camera with 5.8 meter spatial resolution were switched on, as planned, during its 115th orbit today (April 28th) at 10.45 hrs IST,” ISRO said.

The satellite pass covered a 3000 km stretch of Indian landmass from Joshimut in Uttarakhand to Kannur in Kerala.

Images received from the three cameras were of high quality, the space agency said.

India had launched the Resourcesat-2 on board the home-grown PSLV-C16 rocket on April 20.

In its 17th consecutive successful flight, the PSLV-C16 injected Resourcesat-2 along with the Indo-Russian Youthsat and Singapore’s X-sat payloads into the polar sun synchronous orbit.

Immediately after the injection of Resourcesat 2, its two solar panels were deployed and three imaging cameras were oriented towards the Earth.

The 1,206 kg Resourcesat-2 with a space life of five years replaces Resourcesat-1 launched in 2003 and would provide data with enhanced multispectral and spatial coverage on the country’s natural resources.