Indian satellite INSAT-3D all set for launch early tomorrow

India's advanced weather satellite INSAT-3D, with newly developed atmospheric sounding system, is all set to be launched by commercial launch services provider Arianespace from Kourou in French Guiana early tomorrow.

'INSAT-3D is essentially for meteorological applications, Chairman of Indian Space research Organisation K Radhakrishnan told PTI.

'INSAT-3D is an advanced satellite in the sense there is imaging system with better spatial resolution. New payload is the 19-channel sounder which is supposed to give information at different levels in the atmosphere. That's the new addition,' he said.

European space consortium Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket would launch the Alphasat and INSAT-3D satellites.

The launch window opens at 1.23 AM and continues until 2.41 AM. Alphasat is Europe's largest telecommunication satellite-ever manufactured and results from a large-scale public-private partnership between the European Space Agency and Inmarsat.

INSAT-3D is designed to provide meteorological observation and monitoring of land and ocean surfaces. In addition to the sounder, the satellite is equipped with a six-channel imager, a data relay transponder (DRT) and a payload for satellite-aided search and rescue operations.

'DRT will take data from various places -- land and oceans on the meteorological parameters', Radhakrishnan, also Secretary in the Department of Space, said.

The KALPANA and INSAT-3A satellites of India are operational in geostationary orbit for the past one decade at 74 degree East and 93.5 degree East respectively. These have imaging systems providing images in visible, near-infrared, shortwave infrared, water vapour and thermal infrared bands.

INSAT-3D adds a new dimension to weather monitoring through its atmospheric sounding system, which provides vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone from surface to top of the atmosphere.