India’s latest earth observation satellite: EOS-01

India’s latest earth observation satellite EOS-01

What is EOS-01?
It is an earth observation satellite.
EOS-01 is nothing but another Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) that will work together with RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1 launched last year.

What are earth-observation satellites used for?
Land and forest mapping and monitoring, mapping of resources like water or minerals or fishes, weather and climate observations, soil assessment, geospatial contour mapping are all done through earth-observation satellites.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched earth observation satellite EOS-01 as primary satellite and 9 customer satellites aboard PSLV-C49 at 3.12 pm on November 7, 2020 from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

EOS-01 was successfully injected into its orbit 15 minutes and 20 seconds after the launch. The nine commercial satellites were also subsequently injected into their intended orbits.

After separation, the two solar arrays of EOS-01 were deployed automatically and ISRO’s Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite. The satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration in the coming days.

Significance of India’s latest earth observation satellite EOS-01

EOS-01’s launch marks ISRO’s first launch since the COVID-19 lockdown came into force in March. ISRO Chairman K Sivan had informed in June that at least ten space missions, scheduled for launch this year,  have been disturbed due to the lockdown.

Launch: Key Details of India’s latest earth observation satellite EOS-01
•The EOS-01 satellite is an earth observation satellite that will support applications in agriculture and forestry and disaster management.
•The nine customer satellites were launched along with ISRO’s primary satellite under a commercial agreement with New Space India Limited (NSIL).
• Among the nine customer satellites, one belonged to Lithuania, four to Luxembourg and four to the United States of America.
•This was the 51st mission of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
•The launch viewing gallery was closed for the launch and there was no preparations for the gathering of media personnel in the view of strict COVID-19 pandemic norms at the launch centre.

Radar imaging of India’s latest earth observation satellite EOS-01

EOS-01, like its cousins RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1, uses synthetic aperture radars to produce high-resolution images of the land. One big advantage that radar imaging has over optical instruments is that it is unaffected by weather, cloud or fog, or the lack of sunlight. It can produce high-quality images in all conditions and at all times.

Depending on the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation used by the radar, different properties on land can be captured in the image. For example, a low wavelength signal can capture tree cover or vegetation, while a higher wavelength signal can penetrate even dense tree cover to look at the contours of land beneath.

EOS-01, and its sister RISATs, use X-band radars that operate at low wavelengths and are considered best for monitoring of urban landscape, and imaging of agricultural or forest land. According to ISRO, EOS-01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support. The radar images are also considered to be immensely useful for military requirements.

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