After the failure of the GSLV-D3 launch : ISRO flagged off the Cartosat 2B high resolution satellite’s journey to Sriharikota in May 2010

Bangalore:17 April on Saturday morning, After the Failure of GSLV –D3 Lunch , the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  is preparing to launch an advanced remote sensing earth observation satellite the Cartosat 2B in May  2010.

On Thursday’s GSLV-D3 mission to flight-test the indigenous cryogenic engine and stage for the first time ended in failure after the rocket veered off course and plunged into the sea.

GSLV and PSLV missions are independent of each other. ISRO officials said there is no change in its earlier announced plans to launch PSLV in the first half of May — now fixed for May nine.Cartosat 2A is to be launched in 2008.

We are going ahead with the schedule of launching the remote sensing Cartosat-2B satellite in the sun-synchronous polar orbit in May second week (8-10) by using a smaller rocket from our spaceport at Sriharikota," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S Satish told a news agency.
Sriharikota is an oval-shaped island off the Andhra Pradesh coast and about 80 km northeast of Chennai in southern India. The 300-tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C15) will inject the 690-kg Cartosat-2B in the earth’s lower orbit at an altitude of 630 km. "Cartosat-2B will have a sophisticated panchromatic camera on board to take higher (0.8 metre) spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 9.6 km of specific spots for cartographic applications such as mapping, land information and geographical information system," Satish said.
The Rs 100 crore (Rs.1 billion) rocket will also carry an Algerian satellite (Alsat), two nano satellites from Canada and a satellite – Studsat – built by college students from Bangalore and Hyderabad at a cost of Rs 5.5 million, as additional payload.
The Alsat communication satellite will be a commercial launch of the space agency’s commercial arm, Antrix Corporation.

"Activities for the launch of PSLV-C15 carrying Cartosat-2B are progressing satisfactorily. All the solid propellant propulsion stages have been cast and assembled. Integration of propulsion stages is in progress," Satish pointed out.

As the PSLV will be fired from the first launch pad, its preparations have not been hindered by the activity associated with the aborted heavier rocket that carried the GSAT-4 from the second launch pad.
India’s attempt to test flight the indigenous super-cooled cryogenic upper stage engine failed nearly eight minutes after the 416-tonne geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-D3) deviated from the flightpath at about 60 km and spun out of control to plunge into the Bay of Bengal along with the 2.2-tonne GSAT-4 on board Thursday.
"The failure of the cryo engine, though disappointing, has not affected the launch schedule of Cartosat-2B or subsequent launches of GSAT-5 and GSAT-6 later this year. The setback has resolved us to pursue other missions as vigorously as before," Satish noted.
As part of the earth observation system, Cartosat-2B will augment the remote sensing capability of providing scene-specific spot imagery of its earlier versions such as Cartosat-2A, launched in April 2008, Cartosat-2, launched in January 2007, and Cartosat-1 that was launched in May 2005.