Taken off: ISRO's remote sensing satellite PSLV-C36 is on its way up

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Wednesday launched Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle  (PSLV-C36) successfully. The rocket is carrying 1235 kg remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A.

PSLV-C36/RESOURCESAT-2A  took from Sriharikota at 10.25 am. This is the 38th flight of Isro's work horse PSLV.

It is a remote sensing satellite intended for resource monitoring. 

RESOURCESAT-2A is a follow on mission to RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2, launched in 2003 and 2011 respectively.

It is intended to continue the remote sensing data services to global users provided by RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2.

#WATCH: PSLV-C36 carrying Resourcesat-2A launched successfully from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota (AP) pic.twitter.com/Ecf5WmJy1y

— ANI (@ANI_news) December 7, 2016

The satellite carries three payloads which are similar to those of RESOURCESAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-2. They are a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) camera operating in three spectral bands in the Visible and Near Infrared Region (VNIR) with 5.8 m spatial resolution and steerable up to ± 26 deg across track to achieve a five-day revisit capability. 

The second payload is the medium resolution LISS-3 camera operating in three-spectral bands in VNIR and one in Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) band with 23.5 m spatial resolution. 

The third payload is a coarse resolution Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) camera operating in three spectral bands in VNIR and one band in SWIR with 56 m spatial resolution.

RESOURCESAT-2A carries two Solid State Recorders with a capacity of 200 Giga Bits each to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to ground stations.

According to Isro, the PSLV rocket 'XL' variant will place the Resourcesat-2A into an 817 km polar sun synchronous orbit.

Isro said it offers the PSLV rocket to international customers to launch their satellites. During 1994-2016, the PSLV rocket has launched a total of 121 satellites of which 79 are from abroad and 42 are Indian satellites.