Sriharikota: ISRO successfully launched its third and final developmental flight, the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D3), carrying the Earth Observation Satellite EOS-08, on Friday.
The rocket lifted off smoothly from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, located around 135 km east of Chennai, at the scheduled time of 9:17 AM.
The objectives of the SSLV-D3-EOS-08 mission include designing and developing a microsatellite, along with creating payload instruments compatible with the microsatellite bus, according to ISRO, headquartered in Bengaluru.
Built on the Microsat/IMS-1 bus, the EOS-08 satellite carries three payloads: the Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), the Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry Payload (GNSS-R), and the SiC UV Dosimeter.
- The EOIR payload is designed to capture images in the Mid-Wave IR (MIR) and Long-Wave IR (LWIR) bands, both day and night. Its applications include satellite-based surveillance, disaster and environmental monitoring, fire and volcanic activity detection, and industrial disaster observation.
- The GNSS-R payload demonstrates the capability of GNSS-R-based remote sensing for various applications such as ocean surface wind analysis, soil moisture assessment, cryosphere studies in the Himalayan region, flood detection, and monitoring inland water bodies.
- The SiC UV Dosimeter is tasked with monitoring UV irradiance at the Crew Module’s viewport in the Gaganyaan Mission, serving as a high-dose alarm sensor for gamma radiation.
