Cartosat-3


Cartosat-3 is an advanced Indian Earth observation satellite built and developed by Indian Space Research Organisation, which replaces the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite series. It has a panchromatic resolution of 0.25 metres making it one of the imaging satellite with highest resolution in the world at the time of launch and MX of 1 metre with a high quality resolution which is a major improvement from the previous payloads in the Cartosat series.
Potential uses include weather mapping, cartography or defence, and strategic applications.

Overview

Cartosat-3 has a resolution of 25 cm. It uses 1.2 m optics with 60% of weight removal compared to Cartosat-2. Other features include the use of adaptive optics, acousto optical devices, in-orbit focusing using MEMs and large area-light weight mirrors and advanced sense with a high quality resolution. It has a planned mission life of 5 years. Approved cost of is. It captures Panchromatic and Multispectral images with spectral bandwidth from 0.45 - 0.9 μm which includes visible blue, visible green, visible red and near IR.

History

Cartosat-3 is the 3rd generation of high-resolution imaging satellites developed by ISRO. It was developed in response to increased demand for imaging services to address urban planning, rural resource and infrastructure development needs.

Launch

carrying Cartosat-3 was launched on 27 November 2019 at 03:58 UTC using XL variant of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre into a Sun-synchronous orbit of 450 kilometers. Thirteen commercial ride-sharing 3U cubesats including twelve SuperDoves by Planet Labs and one Meshbed by Analytical Space of United States were also put in orbit using the same launch vehicle. Commercial ride-share was arranged by NewSpace India Limited, Spaceflight Industries and ISILaunch.