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UPDATE

DEFENCE IT

PSLV successfully launches 31 Pratyush launched
satellites in a single flight as India’s fastest

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, The 11 kg INS-1C and the 100 kg supercomputer yet
in its forty second flight, successfully class Microsat, the two Indian co- Pratyush, India’s fastest supercomputer
launched the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series passenger satellites of Cartosat-2, are yet, was unveiled at the Indian Institute
Remote Sensing Satellite along with also being monitored and controlled of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune
30 co-passenger satellites on 12 from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. The 28 on January 8, 2018. Pratyush is a
December 2017 from Satish Dhawan international customer satellites collection of several computers that can
Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. The belong to Canada, Finland, France, deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops,
launch was significant for two other Republic of Korea, UK and the facilitating the weather forecasting and
r ea sons— Isro demon stra ted USA. climate monitoring in the country.
multiple-burn technology that it So far, PSLV has successfully India’s Pratyush is its first multi-
tested in three previous launches, launched 51 Indian satellites and petaflop supercomputer to date that is
and the space agency also placed the 237 customer satellites from a part of the efforts made by Ministry of
100th satellite it has built in its abroad. Earth Sciences to grow ‘High Performance
laboratory. The successful launch of PSLV- Computing’ (HPC) in the country.
The lift-off of PSLV-C40 occurred C40 comes about four months after Presently, India stands at a lower
from the First Launch Pad. After a Isro’s PSLV-C39 failed following a position in terms of HPC infrastructure
flight lasting 16 minutes 37 seconds, technical snag involving its heat rankings in the world. With the
the satellites achieved the polar Sun shield. introduction of Pratyush, India hopes
Synchronous Orbit of 503 km inclined The Cartosat-2 Series satellite to move from the 368th position to gain
at an angle of 97.55 degree to the will provide regular remote sensing a position in the top 30 in the Top500
equator. In the succeeding seven services using its panchromatic list of HPC facilities in the world. India will
minutes, Cartosat-2 series satellite, and multispectral cameras. The also be placed at the 4th position after
INS-1C and 28 customer satellites images sent by the satellite will be Japan, UK, and USA for dedicated HPC
successfully separated from the PSLV useful for cartographic applications, resources for weather/climate community.
in a predetermined sequence. The urban and rural applications, The sole purpose of installing such
fourth stage of PSLV-C40 fired twice coastal land use and regulation, a high-capacity supercomputer in India
for short durations to achieve a polar utility management like road is to accelerate the weather forecasting
orbit of 365 km height in which India’s network monitoring, water in the country, primarily before the
Microsat successfully separated. distribution, creation of land use arrival of Monsoon season in India. In
After separation, the two solar maps, change detection to bring addition, Pratyush will monitor the
arrays of Cartosat-2 series satellite out geographical and man-made onset of other natural calamities such
deployed automatically and ISRO’s features and various other land as floods and Tsunami in the country.
Telemetry, Tracking and Command information system (LIS) as well as Farmers will get a big relief as the
Network (ISTRAC) at Bengaluru took geographical information system unprecedented rainy season in India often
over the control of the satellite. (GIS) applications. results in a bad annual crop production.
March 2018 Competition Wizard 77