Cartosat-2 is an Earth observation satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit and the second of the

Cartosat The Cartosat is a series of Indian optical earth observation satellites built and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Cartosat series is a part of the Indian Remote Sensing Program. They are used for Earth's resource ...

series of satellites. The satellite was built, launched and maintained by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Weighing around 680 kg at launch, its applications will mainly be towards

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...

in India. It was launched by the

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

PSLV-C7 launch vehicle on 10 January 2007.

Satellite description

Cartosat-2 carries a state-of-the-art panchromatic (PAN) camera that take black and white pictures of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

in the

visible region The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visual perception, visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called ''visible light'' or simply light. A typical human eye wil ...

of the

electromagnetic spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies. The electromagnetic spectrum covers electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging fro ...

. The swath covered by this high resolution PAN camera is 9.6 km and their spatial resolution is less than 1 metre. The satellite can be steered up to 45° along as well as across the track. Cartosat-2 is an advanced remote sensing satellite capable of providing scene-specific spot imagery. The data from the satellite will be used for detailed mapping and other cartographic applications at cadastral level, urban and rural infrastructure development and management, as well as applications in Land information system (LIS) and Geographic information system (GIS). The first imagery, received on 12 January 2007, covered a length of 240 km from

Paonta Sahib Paonta Sahib is an industrial town of Himachal Pradesh in India. It is located in the south of Sirmaur district, on National Highway 72 ( New NH 7). Paonta Sahib is an important place of worship for Sikhs, hosting a large Gurdwara named Gurudw ...

in Shivalik region to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. Another set of imagery of about 50 km length covered

Radhanagari Radhanagari is a town and the headquarters of Radhanagari tehsil in the Radhanagari subdivision of Kolhapur district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is located on the banks of the Bhogawati River, near the Radhanagari Dam and the Rad ...

to Sagoan in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. Analysis of the first imagery received at National Remote Sensing Agency's data reception station at

Shadnagar Shadnagar is a Town and assembly constituency in the Ranga Reddy district in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. As part of the reorganisation of districts in Telangana, Shadnagar separated from Mahabubnagar district and merged into Ranga Reddy dist ...

, in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

, confirmed excellent performance of the on-board camera. Cartosat-2's panchromatic camera can produce images better than 1 metre in resolution, compared to the 82 cm panchromatic resolution offered by the Ikonos satellite. India had previously purchased images from Ikonos at about US$20 per square kilometre; the use of Cartosat-2 will provide imagery at 20 times lower cost. At the time of Cartosat-2's launch, India was buying about per year from Ikonos.

End of life

After 12 years of service in a circular orbit of almost 630 km altitude Cartosat-2 would have taken about 30 years to de-orbit naturally. With 25 kg of propellant remaining it was decided by ISRO's Directorate for Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM) to decommission the spacecraft and lower the perigee using left-over propellant so that it meets

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is an office of the U.N. Secretariat that promotes and facilitates peaceful international cooperation in outer space. It works to establish or strengthen the legal and regulatory framew ...

(UNOOSA)'s space debris mitigation guidelines. Between 6 March to 3 September 2020, perigee was lowered incrementally by performing 26 perigee reduction burns putting the spacecraft in 630 × 390 km orbit. This was ISRO's first

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

satellite to be decommissioned in this manner. Orbit of Cartosat-2 is expected to decay naturally within 10 years.

References

External links

Cartosat-2 website
{{Orbital launches in 2007 Cartosat Spacecraft launched in 2007 Spacecraft launched by PSLV rockets Spacecraft decommissioned in 2019

Satellite description

End of life

See also

References

External links