ISRO launches PSLV-C15 successfully

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C15 carrying five payloads, including India's remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B, successfully lifted off from the spaceport in Sriharikota on Monday. Besides the 694 kg Cartosat-2B, the rocket is carrying Alsat from Algeria, a nano satellite each from Canada and Switzerland and a pico (very small) satellite 'Studsat' built by seven engineering students in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Cartosat-2B, which would help in urban planning and infrastructure development such as laying ring-roads and rerouting of highways, is equipped with a panchromatic camera similar to that of its two predecessors -- Cartosat-2 and 2A. The satellite is capable of imaging a swath (geographical strip of land) of 9.6 km with a resolution of 0.8 meters. It also carries a solid state recorder with a capacity of 64 giga bytes to store the images taken by its camera, which can be accessed by the ground stations.
The multiple spot scene imagery sent by Cartosat-2B camera would also be useful for village/cadastral level resource assessment and mapping, preparation of large-scale cartographic maps and preparation of micro watershed development plans. Its imagery can also be used for the preparation of detailed forest type maps, tree volume estimation, village level crop inventory, town/village settlement mapping and planning for comprehensive development. The imagery would also assist in plans for canal alignment, rural connectivity assessment, planning new rural roads and monitoring their construction, coastal landform/land use and coral/mangrove mapping and monitoring of mining activities.