News Story: Electric Eye - New Satellite Gives India the Edge Along the Border

With the ability to zoom in on areas less than 0.6 meters, India’s Cartosat-2 series satellite will allow the Indian Army to keep an eagle eye on hostile activities on the border, said experts on the feat accomplished by India with the launch of the PSLV rocket bearing the satellite on Friday.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The 712-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite has the highest ever resolution in panchromatic and multi-spectral cameras used for capturing targets on the ground at less than 0.6 meters.

"This (Cartosat-2 series) remote sensing satellite is similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series with the objective of providing high-resolution scene specific spot imagery," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

"It will be capable of monitoring minute details, like the movement of persons, tanks etc if images are taken at quick intervals. It will also allow you to test on new bunkers being made at border. If Pakistan activated atom bomb testing site, this resolution will easily provide explicit details of the site to Indian authorities," Dr. Mayank N Vahiya, a scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, said.

Earlier on Friday, ISRO placed the Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation along with 30 other satellites into the 505-km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). ISRO used the XL variants of the PSLV rocket from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota for the launch. The PSLV uses 6 solid rocket strap-on motors to augment thrust provided by the first stage in PSLV-XL variants.

Congratulations to ISRO on its 40th successful Polar satellite launch carrying 31 satellites from 15 countries. You make us proud!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 23, 2017

​The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries namely, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, United Kingdom and the United States of America as well as one nano satellite from India.

India had launched the first dedicated military satellite Cartosat-2A in April 2008. Cartosat-2E is likely to be the last Cartosat-2 series spacecraft to launch. From next year, ISRO will start sending Cartosat-3 series satellites for remote sensing and other strategic purposes.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.