Ahead of Independence Day celebrations, India is set to launch GISAT-1, it’s most advanced geo-imaging satellite which will enhance monitoring of the subcontinent, including its borders with Pakistan and China by imaging the country 4-5 times a day reported TOI.

This will be the first launch of the primary satellite this year. Last year, its launch had been delayed for reasons concerning the Covid pandemic. This year the satellite is set to be launched on August 12, at around 5;43 AM in Sriharikota.

ISRO’s GSLV-F10 rocket will finally put the 2,268-kg GISAT-1, codenamed EOS-3, into the geo-orbit. On February 18, 28, ISRO had launched 18 small satellites, including some desi satellites, along with the primary satellite Amazonia-1 of Brazil.

The minister of state for the department of space Jitendra Singh had recently claimed in the parliament that EOS-03 is capable of imaging the whole country 4-5 times daily and is equipped to monitor water bodies, crops, vegetation conditions, and forest cover changes along with floods and cyclones.

The advanced ‘eye in the sky’ can monitor areas of interest and give real time information about a large area unlike other remote sensing satellites placed in lower orbits that come to a spot only at regular intervals, TOI noted.

As per media reports, a 4-metre diameter ogive-shaped payload fairing (heat shield) has been used in the rocket for the first time. In addition, the satellite is set to have payload imaging sensors of six-band multispectral visible and near infra-red with 42-metre resolution.

Following the launch of Gisat-1, India will be focussing on the launch of EOS-4 or Risat-1A, which is a radar imaging satellite and can take pictures day and night and can also see through clouds by a PSLV in September. This satellite is set to play a strategic role in the country’s defence by virtue of its capability to operate throughout the day and in all weather conditions alike.