Indias eye in sky launched

India on Monday successfully launched a new-age all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite,RISAT-2 that would not just significantly enhance.....

India on Monday successfully launched a new-age all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite,RISAT-2 that would not just significantly enhance the country8217;s capability for earth observation but could also be used for surveillance purposes.

The 300-kg,44-m tall RISAT-2,which has been built in association with Israel Aerospace Industries,can take high-resolution images of the earths surface day and night and also in cloudy conditions. The satellite is expected to provide reliable data that can be used for disaster management,ISRO said.

These very attributes of the satellite have also generated talk of this being a spy satellite. ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters in Sriharikota,the launch site,that RISAT-2 was aimed mainly at disaster management but the data can be utilised by the end-user for a variety of purposes.

8220;There is nothing like a spy satellite on our agenda. We have only earth observation,communication and scientific satellites. This is another series in the earth observation satellites,8221; Nair said.

8220;This is essentially meant for peaceful applications like disaster management,8221; he added.

RISAT-2 is said to be very similar in composition and qualities to TecSAR,an Israeli spy satellite that was launched by ISRO last year and has the capability to monitor objects of dimensions of 10 cm and above like a medium-sized mobile phone. RISAT-2 has also been placed in the same orbit of 550 km as TecSAR.

As of now,India relies on Technical Experimental Satellite,launched in 2001,and CARTOSAT-2,launched last year,for obtaining imaging data for military purposes.

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India8217;s first dedicated military satellite,one which will be used exclusively by the IAF,is expected to be launched next year. This will be followed by a similar dedicated satellite to be used by the Indian Navy.

RISAT-2 was launched along with ANUSAT,a 40-kg mini satellite that has been developed by Chennais Anna University. ANUSAT is the first experimental communication satellite built by an Indian university.