China, India launch new satellites on same day

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) - China and India on Wednesday launched satellites for separate missions, with Beijing deploying a new batch of internet satellites and New Delhi sending a joint NASA-ISRO satellite into orbit.

India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) confirmed the successful launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite from the country’s southeastern coast on Wednesday evening, local time.

The satellite carried aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle F16 is designed to monitor earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses. The mission will support applications ranging from biomass analysis to tracking sea level rise and groundwater resources, according to NASA.

“Designed to provide a detailed view of the earth to observe and measure some of the planet's most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater issues,” NASA said. Its radar, the first of its kind in space, will “map earth, measuring changes of our planet's surface as small as a centimeter.”

On the same day, China launched the sixth batch of low-earth orbit satellites forming part of its expanding internet communication constellation. The satellites were sent into orbit from a commercial launch site in Hainan, a southern island province.

The Long March-8A carrier rocket lifted off at 3.49 pm (0749GMT), placing the satellites in their designated orbit. The launch marked the 586th mission of the Long March series.