Indian Earth observation satellite
Cartosat-2F is the eighth satellite in the Cartosat-2 Series. It is an Earth observation satellite launched on the PSLV-C40 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[3]
History
Originally, Cartosat-2E was published as the last Cartosat-2 satellite to be launched, as Cartosat-3 Series spacecraft were scheduled to launch in 2018. Cartosat-2F was first listed on launch schedules as Cartosat-2ER, a name possibly indicating it was originally a replica of Cartosat-2E to be used as a spare.[4]
Satellite description
Like other satellites in the series, Cartosat-2F was built on an IRS-2 bus. It uses reaction wheels, magnetorquers, and hydrazine-fueled reaction control thrusters for stability. It has a design service life of five years.[5] Cartosat-2F has three main remote sensing instruments, a panchromatic camera called PAN, a four channel visible/near infrared radiometer called HRMX, and a Event Monitoring camera (EvM).[3]
- Panchromatic camera (PAN) is capable of taking panchromatic (black and white) photographs in a selected portion of the visible and near-infrared spectrum (0.50–0.85 µm) at a resolution of 65 cm (26 in).[6]
- High-Resolution Multi-Spectral (HRMX) radiometer is a four-channel radiometer sensitive across the entire visible spectrum and part of the near-infrared spectrum (0.43–0.90 µm) at a resolution of 2 m (6 ft 7 in).[7]
- Event Monitoring camera (EvM) is also capable of capturing minute long video of a fixed spot as well, Event Monitoring camera (EvM) for frequent high-resolution land observation of selected areas.[8]
Launch
The PSLV-C40 launch was initially placed on hiatus following failures with the nose cone and satellite deployment systems of PSLV-C39, but was cleared to launch once these issues were resolved.[9] It was launched at 03:59 UTC from First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 12 January 2018,[10] the third of the series to be launched within a year.[5] After 16 minutes and 37 seconds, Cartosat-2F was separated from the launch vehicle, and the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ITTCN) took control of the satellite for maneuvers to its desired orbit.[10] The launch also marked the 100th satellite successfully put into orbit by the ISRO.[11]
Mission
The first image returned by the mission, on 15 January 2018; was of Holkar Stadium and the surrounding community in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.[12] The PAN camera is designed to have a spatial resolution less than one meter and a swath width of ten kilometers.[2]
On 27 November 2020, at 01:49 UTC, Cartosat-2F and Russia's Kanopus-V No.3 spacecraft came very close while in orbit, passing each other at distance of nearly 200 to 450 meters.[13][14]
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