BENGALURU: ISRO announced on Thursday that it will launch the Insat-3DS at 5:30 pm on Feb 17, marking the 16th mission of the GSLV — the GSLV-F14 from the spaceport in Sriharikota.
The Insat-3DS is part of a series of climate observatory satellites being launched by India and follows the Insat-3DR launched in 2016. “Insat-3DS is an exclusive meteorological satellite realized by ISRO with the primary objective to provide continuity of services to the existing in-orbit Insat-3D and 3DR satellites, significantly enhancing the capabilities of the Insat system,” ISRO said.
The satellite completed assembly, integration & testing activities at URSC, and the pre-shipment review (PSR) was held with the participation of members from the user community on Jan 25.“The satellite is a user-funded project with the Ministry of Earth Science (MoES), configured around ISRO’s well-proven I-2k bus platform with a lift-off mass of 2,275 kg. Indian industries have significantly contributed to the making of the satellite,” ISRO said.
Designed for enhanced meteorological observations and monitoring of land and ocean surfaces for weather forecasting and disaster warning, Insat-3D features state-of-the-art payloads — a six-channel imager and 19-channel sounder meteorology payloads, communication payloads (data relay transponder (DRT) and satellite-aided search and rescue (SAS&R) transponder.
“The data relay transponder (DRT) instrument receives meteorological, hydrological, and oceanographic data from automatic data collection platforms/automatic weather stations (AWS) and augments the weather forecasting capabilities. The SAS&R transponder is incorporated into the satellite to relay a distress signal/alert detection from the beacon transmitters for search and rescue services with global receive coverage,” ISRO added.



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