ISRO successfully launches RISAT-2BR1, 9 foreign satellites
Sriharikota(AP), Dec 11: ISRO on Wednesday successfully injected into orbit the country's remote imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1 along with nine other foreign commercial satellites.
The 44.4 metre tall PSLV lifted off majestically with a thunderous sound, leaving plumes of smoke from the first launch pad at the spaceport here at 3.25 pm.
RISAT-2BR1 was placed into orbit around 16 minutes after the lift off while the remaining satellites were released in their respective orbits about five minutes later.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan and other scientists greeted each other as all 10 satellites were injected into the desired orbit.
Later, speaking from the Mission Control Centre, Sivan said today's mission was a 'historic' one coinciding with PSLV's 50th flight.
"ISRO has made a historic mission.. I am extremely happy to declare that the 50th PSLV vehicle successfully injected RISAT-2BR1 precisely into the 576 km orbit," he said.
RISAT BR1 was a "complex" satellite but was built in a short time, he said and lauded the team behind the effort.
Regarding PSLV, he recalled and acknowledged the contribution of "exemplary leaders" like Dr Srinivasan, Dr Madhavan Nair and others from the conceptualising- configuration stage till date.
Nair had made the vehicle operational, he pointed out.
PSLV's payload capacity has increased from 860 kg to 1.9 tonnes and the "versatile vehicle" has carried 52.7 tonne so far, 17 percent of which was customer satellites, he said.
complimented the scientists the mission a great success.
On future missions, he exuded confidence that team ISRO would as usual rise to the occasion and make them all "grand success."
The 628 kg remote imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR follows RISAT-2B, which was placed successfully in orbit in May this year.
As many as nine other satellites-- six from the US and one each from Israel, Italy and Japan rode piggy back on PSLV-C48.
The satellites are being launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Ltd.
Of the total 50 missions, 48 have been successful for ISRO.
The PSLV has placed around 310 foreign satellites with the first mission in September 1993.
Some significant launches by PSLV include Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and the record launch of 104 satellites in one go earlier.
PSLV-C48 is the second flight with 'QL' configuration equipped with four strap-on motors on its sides, ISRO said.
The first flight with a similar configuration was launched in April 2019 (PSLV-C45/EMISAT and 28 other satellites).
Apart from being used for military purposes, the key applications of RISAT-2BR1 include agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
While six satellites from the US would be used for multi- mission remote sensing purpose, the one launched by Italy was aimed at taking up search and rescue.
A radar imaging earth observation satellite built by Japan and another by Israel were also launched.
The launch of PSLV-C48/RISAT-2BR1 is the sixth launch made by ISRO in 2019. The mission life is five years, ISRO said.
#RISAT2BR1 satellite successfully placed in orbit by #PSLVC48
— ISRO (@isro) December 11, 2019
Here's a picture of satellite separation captured by onboard camera pic.twitter.com/OssPM4uwsG
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
