The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has finalised its plans for a sequence of five remote-sensing satellite launches up to 2002.
The satellites, to be launched on Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles from Sriharikota, near Madras, will provide commercial oceanographic, cartographic and agricultural data to customers worldwide.
The first satellite, formerly the Indian Remote Sensing satellite, IRS P4, and renamed the Oceansat 1, will be launched this year. It will carry microwave and multi-spectral radiometers to provide data on wave height, movements and coastline erosion. "Data will also be used in fish-productivity predictions, ship routing and the monitoring of coastal pollution," says the ISRO.
The former IRS P5 has been renamed the CartoSat 1 and will be launched in 1999 to provide images for precise map-making data, while the former IRS P6 will be dedicated to agricultural data. One craft, which has not yet been named formally, will be launched in 2000.
Source: Flight International