India Set To Launch Its Most Advanced Earth Observation Satellite By 15 May

India is set to launch its most advanced earth-observation satellite GISAT-1 into space next month.

The 2,268 kg satellite will reportedly help in better monitoring of the sub-continent, including India's borders with China and Pakistan.

The GISAT-1, or Geo Imaging Satellite-1, will be launched into space before 15 May, reports Times of India.

The launch of the satellite was earlier aborted in due to a technical glitch related to a voltage fluctuation issue.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan was quoted in the report as saying that the technical glitch is being fixed, after which the satellite will be assembled in the launch vehicle and tested again.

"All these things will take time and the launch is likely to happen in the first half of next month," Sivan was quoted as saying.

He further said that the delay in the launch of GISAT-1 onboard GSLV-F10 and the the Covid situation in the country will, however, postpone other launches, including the first test-flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) this year.

The GISAT-1 is equipped with high-resolution cameras and will allow the country to monitor the Indian landmass and its borders by providing near real-time imaging of the area of the interest at frequent intervals.

The satellite will also help in monitoring natural disasters, and episodic and any short-term events and will obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, mineralogy, disaster warning, cloud properties, snow and glaciers and oceanography.

The GSLV-F10 will place the GISAT-1 into geosynchronus transfer orbit, after which the satellite will use its onboard propulsion system to reach the geostationary orbit.