Space: India's defunct surveillance satellite 'RISAT-2' hits Indian Ocean near Jakarta

India's defunct Radar Imaging Satellite-2 (RISAT-2) re-entered the earth atmosphere on October 30 in an uncontrolled manner and hit the Indian Ocean near Jakarta, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

India's defunct Radar Imaging Satellite-2 (RISAT-2) re-entered the earth atmosphere on October 30 in an uncontrolled manner and hit the Indian Ocean near Jakarta, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The 300 kg RISAT-2, a surveillance satellite, was launched on April 20, 2009, using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The satellite with a design life of four years had initially carried 30 kg of fuel for operations in the space.

According to ISRO, the satellite did not have any fuel when it re-entered the earth atmosphere and studies confirmed that the pieces generated due to aero-thermal fragmentation would not have survived re-entry heating and hence no fragments would have impacted the earth.

The re-entry of the satellite was monitored by ISRO with the Multi Object Tracking Radar (MTOR) at the Sriharikota rocket port and with software analysis, the space agency said.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket spy satellite RISAT-2BR1 and nine foreign satellites, at Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh. IANS(File photo)

"As RISAT-2 re-entered within 13.5 years, it complied with all necessary international mitigation guidelines for Space Debris, showing ISRO's commitment towards long term sustainability of Outer Space as well," ISRO asserted.

(With inputs from IANS)