Cartosat-2F
Cartosat-2F is the eight satellite in the Cartosat-2 series. It is an Earth observation satellite launched on the PSLV-C40 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation. The PSLV-C40 launch was initially placed on hiatus following failures with the nose cone and satellite deployment systems of PSLV-C39, but was cleared to launch once these issues were resolved. It was launched at 09:29 local time from First Launch Pad at Sriharikota Range on January 12, 2018, the third of the series to be launched within a year. After 16 minutes and 37, Cartosat-2F was separated from the launch vehicle, and the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network took control of the satellite for maneuvers to its desired orbit. The launch also marked the 100th satellite successfully put into orbit by the ISRO.
Originally, Cartosat-2E was published as the last Cartosat-2 satellite to be launched, as Cartosat-3 series spacecraft were scheduled to launch in 2018. Cartosat-2F was first listed on launch schedules as Cartosat-2ER, a name possibly indicating it was originally a replica of Cartosat-2E to be used as a spare.
Like other satellites in the series, Cartosat-2F was built on an IRS-2 bus. It uses reaction wheels, magnetorquers, and hydrazine-fueled reaction control thrusters for stability. It has a design service life of five years. Cartosat-2F has two main remote sensing instruments, a panchromatic camera called PAN and a four channel visible/near infrared radiometer called HRMX.
The first image returned by the mission, on January 15, 2018; was of Holkar Stadium and the surrounding community in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The PAN camera is designed to have a spatial resolution less than one meter and a swath width of ten kilometers.
