The GSLV-F10 rocket carrying earth observation satellite EOS-03 successfully blasted off from the Sriharikota spaceport on Thursday morning, the Indian Space Research Organisation announced.
The launch event is the second one this year for the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency after the launch of Brazil's earth observation satellite Amazonia-1 and 18 co-passenger satellites in February this year.
The earth observation satellite would provide real-time images of the country and also be able to quickly monitor natural disasters.
"The state-of-the-art agile Earth Observation satellite EOS-03 will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10. Subsequently, the satellite will reach the final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system", ISRO said in a notification.
The mission was the first flight of GSLV with a four metre dia Ogive Payload fairing that can accommodate larger payloads, ISRO said.
The lift-off took place at 05.43 am from the second launch pad at Sriharikota about 100 km from Chennai and the separation of the earth observation satellite 03 was expected to take place after 19 minutes.
The objective of the mission was to provide near real time imaging of large area region at frequent intervals; for quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, water bodies as well as for disaster warning, cyclone monitoring, cloud burst and thunderstorm monitoring.
The mission life is 10 years. Previous launches of GSLV include the GSLV-MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 mission on July 2019 while GSLV-F11 successfully placed GSAT-7A in December 2018.
The previous earth observation satellite was launched by ISRO in November 2020 onboard a polar satellite launch vehicle.
