Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites were successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, India into a sun-synchronous polar orbit. The Cartosat-3 satellite is a third-generation agile, advanced satellite having high resolution imaging capability of up to 25-centimeter (9.8 inches) panchromatic and 1-meter (3.3 feet) 4-band multispectral. The satellite’s mid-range infrared (MWIR) imager has a resolution of five meters (16.4 feet).
The mission life of the Cartosat-3 is 5 years. Cartosat-3 will address increased user demands for large scale urban planning, rural resource and infrastructure development, coastal land use and land cover, and other applications. Two more satellites, Cartosat-3A and 3B are due to launch in 2020.
The 13 commercial nanosatellites were also successfully injected into designated orbit. Twelve of these make up the Flock-4p payload for American company Planet Labs. These satellites were launched under commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
