Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) is an Indian

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

and photo-reconnaissance satellite.

Launch

Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) was launched by the PSLV-C3 rocket from the

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre – SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range – SHAR) is the primary spaceport of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh. The spaceport is located on an isl ...

Sriharikota Sriharikota () is a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the Shar Project settlement of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh, India. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, one of the two satellite launch centres in India (the ...

on the southeast coast of India at 04:53 UT on 22 October 2001. This was the fifth consecutive successful launch of the 294-tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket and the second launch to deploy multiple satellites. The 1,108 kg TES satellite carried a one-meter resolution panchromatic camera and was an experimental satellite designed to demonstrate and validate technologies in orbit that could be used in future satellites of the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

(ISRO). TES was successfully placed in a 572 km

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

on 22 October 2001 using PSLV-C3. PSLV-C3 also deployed two additional satellites: PROBA, a Belgian satellite, and

BIRD Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, a German satellite.

Mission

The technologies demonstrated in TES are attitude and orbit control system, high torque

reaction wheel A reaction wheel (RW) is an electric motor attached to a flywheel, which, when its rotation speed is changed, causes a counter-rotation proportionately through conservation of angular momentum. A reaction wheel can rotate only around its center ...

s, new reaction

control system A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial ...

with optimised thrusters and a single propellant tank, light weight spacecraft structure, solid state recorder,

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

phased array antenna, improved satellite positioning system, miniaturised TTC and power system and, two-mirror-on-axis camera optics. TES has a pan chromatic camera for

. The camera is which is capable of producing images of one metre resolution. One metre resolution means the camera is able to distinguish between two objects which are separated at least a metre. The launch of TES made India the second country in the world after the United States that can commercially offer images with one metre resolution.BBC News: India's spy satellite boost
/ref> It is used for remote sensing of civilian areas, mapping industry and geographical information services. TES, helped the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

with high-resolution images during the 11 September 2001 counter-terrorism offensive against the Taliban.

References

External links

ISRO PSLV C3 page
{{Orbital launches in 2001 Earth observation satellites of India Spacecraft launched by PSLV rockets Spacecraft launched in 2001 2001 in India Imaging reconnaissance satellites

Launch

Mission

See also

References

External links