CARTOSAT-2A - Mapping & Charting Satellite

CARTOSAT-2A [ISRO]

CARTOSAT-2A, thirteenth in the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series, is an advanced remote sensing satellite capable of providing scene-specific spot imagery. It has now joined the other six IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) satellites which are in service; IRS-1D, OCEANSAT-1. TES, RESOURCESAT-1. CARTOSAT-1 and CARTOSAT-2.

Similar to CARTOSAT-1 but lighter and more sophisticated it is placed in a 635 km Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit with an inclination of 97.94 deg with respect to the equator, the 690 kg highly agile CARTOSAT-2A carries a Panchromatic Camera (PAN) to provide imagery with a spatial resolution of better than one metre and a swath of 9.6 km. The satellite can be steered up to 45 deg along as well as across the track. Data from the satellite can be used for cartographic applications at cadastral level, urban and rural infrastructure development and management, as well as applications in Land Information System (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS).[ISRO]


Salient Features:

Orbit : Circular Polar Sun Synchronous
Orbit height : 635 km
Orbit inclination : 97.94 deg
Orbit period : 97.4 min
Number of Orbits per day : 14
Local Time of Equator Crossing: 9.30 AM
Repetivity : 310 days
Revisit : 5 days
Lift-off Mass : 690 kg
Attitude and Orbit Control : 3-axis stabilised using High Torque Reaction Wheels, Magnetic Torquers and Hydrazine Thrusters
Electrical Power : Solar Array generating 900 W with 2 18 Ah Ni-Cd batteries
Mission Life : 5 years
Payloads : PAN Camera Operation Life : 5 Years

PAN Camera Specifications:

Resolution : Better than 1 Metre
Swath : 9.6 km
Spectral Band : 0.50-0.85 micron
Data rate : 105 Mbps after compression
Solid State Recorder: 64 GB capacity for image data storage

Launch History

28 April 2008 CARTOSAT-2A was Launched by PSLV-C9 from SDSC Mass: 690 kg.