Why in News:

• ISRO to launch earth observation satellite EOS-01

About the satellite:

• EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support
• PSLV-C49 rocket from the spaceport of Sriharikota will be used for launching
• Also nine international customer satellites will also be launched. The customer satellites are being launched under commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space

Earth Observing satellites

• An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, cartography and others.
• Starting with IRS-1A in 1988, ISRO has launched many operational remote sensing satellites. Today, India has one of the largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in operation. Some of the satellites that have been in Sun-synchronous orbit are – RESOURCESAT-1, 2, 2A CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and SCATSAT-1, and some in Geostationary orbit are – INSAT-3D, Kalpana & INSAT 3A, INSAT -3DR. Varieties of instruments have been flown onboard these satellites to provide necessary data in a diversified spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to cater to different user requirements in the country and for global usage.
• A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth, where the object orbits once per day. A common kind of geosynchronous orbit is called a geostationary orbit, where the object orbits above the same part of the Earth at all times.
• A sun-synchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth, where the movement of the satellite always looks the same when viewed from the Sun. A satellite in a sun-synchronous orbit still orbits the Earth, but does so in such a way that over the course of the day, its distance to the Sun will change in a consistent pattern no matter the time of year.

PSLV

• Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages. PSLV has also been used to launch various satellites into Geosynchronous and Geostationary orbits
• The vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively

Additional Details

NSIL

• NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is a Central Public Sector Enterprise of Government of India
• It was established under the administrative control of the Department of Space (DOS) and the Company Act 2013.
• NSIL is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the Indian space programme.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/isro-to-launch-earth-observation-satellite-eos-01-on-november-7/article32965548.ece