The EOS-04 is an all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite designed to provide high-quality images

Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO’s) PSLV C-52, carrying earth observation satellite EOS-04 and two other co-passenger satellites, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Monday.

This markes the space agency’s first mission launch in 2022.

PSLV-C52 injected Earth Observation Satellite EOS-04 into an intended sun-synchronous polar orbit of 529 km altitude at 06:17 am on Monday, said ISRO.

The EOS-04 is an all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite designed to provide high-quality images for applications such as agriculture, forestry and plantations, soil moisture, and hydrology and flood mapping. It has a mission life of 10 years.

Apart from the Earth Observation Satellite, the launch vehicle also carried two small satellites, INSPIREsat-1 and INS-2TD.

INSPIREsat-1 is an 8.1 kg satellite developed by students from Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology (IIST) in association with Laboratory of Atmospheric & Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It will study ionosphere dynamics and the sun's coronal heating process over the course of a year.

INS-2TD is a technology demonstrator satellite from ISRO that is a precursor to India-Bhutan Joint Satellite (INS-2B). It is fitted with a thermal imaging camera to observe land, water surface temperatures, delineation of vegetation, and thermal inertia. The 17.5-kilogram satellite has the shortest lifespan of just six months.

With 53 launches under its belt, the PSLV has earned the title of the 'Workhorse of ISRO'. It is best known for launching Chandrayaan 1 in 2008 and the Mars Orbiter spacecraft in 2013, which later traveled to the Moon and Mars respectively.

The space agency's last mission ended in failure after the GSLV rocket carrying the EOS-3 satellite malfunctioned about five minutes after lift-off in August 2021.