On Friday with the Indian spaceport of Satish-Dhawan Space research organization of India (ISRO) using the rocket PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) was successfully launched into orbit a satellite Arkyd-6, owned by Planetary Resources.
Sputnik refers to the “family” CubeSat. It successfully separated from the booster at the 30th minute of the flight and entered the calculated synchronous solar orbit. The satellite was designed as a prototype of the future scout asteroids – the Arkyd-301, the main function will be to search for minerals on their surface, in particular, water.
The spacecraft is equipped with an infrared thermal imaging camera MWIR is operating in the range from 3 to 5 microns. With the help of special optics to gather data about the presence of water molecules. About the prospects of using the Arkyd-6 said the chief engineer, Planetary Resources Chris Vegies:
If all of the experimental system will operate normally, the company intends to use the satellite to scan the Earth’s surface, including agricultural land, areas of exploration, resources and infrastructure mining for energy.
Source Planetary Resources