· Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched two satellites— NovaSAR and S1-4-belonging to United Kingdom (UK).
· Both satellites were injected into Sun Synchronous Orbit (pole-to-pole orbit) at an altitude of 583 km after the launch.
· These satellites were launched on board of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C42).
· This was the 44th flight of PSLV and the 12th flight of Core Alone version of the vehicle.
· Core Alone version of PSLV is lightest version without six strap-on motors. It is used for smaller payloads.
· It was ISRO’s first fully commercial trip of the year.
· S1-4 Satellite is high resolution earth observation satellite meant for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and disaster monitoring.
· NovaSAR Sateillite carries S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Automatic Identification Receiver payloads. It is technology demonstration mission designed to test capabilities of new low cost S-band SAR platform. Its applications include forestry mapping, land use and ice cover monitoring, flood and disaster monitoring and maritime missions.
· It is capable of launching 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit and 1050 ks satellite in geo-synchronous transfer orbit.
· There are three variants of PSLV, namely, PSLV-G, PSLV-CA, PSLV-XL.
· In the standard configuration, it measures 44.4 m tall, with a lift off weigh of 295 tonnes.
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