EOS-08 Satellite Launched Successfully from Sriharikota

Published On:

From the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organization launched the EOS-08 Earth Observation Satellite on Friday aboard the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D3). At 9.17 a.m., the SSLV-D3, on its last development flight, took off from SDSC's first launch pad.

Accurate Orbit Positioning and Successful Launch

The EOS-08 satellite was launched into a 475-km circular orbit as planned seventeen minutes later. "The SSLV-D3, the third developmental flight of SSLV using the EOS-08 satellite, was completed successfully. The spacecraft is now in a designed, highly precise orbit thanks to the rocket. I discovered that the injection circumstances are consistent. "At this point, it seems like everything is going well," stated ISRO Chairman S. Somanath following the launch.

Overview of the Advanced EOS-08 Space Mission

Built on a typical ISRO Microsat/IMS-1 bus, EOS-08 is a first-of-its-kind mission equipped with a suite of cutting-edge payloads for infrared observation, a unique GNSS-R payload, and a SiC UV dosimeter.

Innovations in Technology As seen in the EOS-08 Satellite

The satellite features many new technological advancements in satellite mainframe systems, such as an integrated avionics system for on-board technology demonstration that includes a flexible solar panel, nano star sensor, embedded battery, PCB-embedded structural panel, Micro-DGA (dual gimbal antenna), M-PAA (phased array antenna), and communication, baseband, storage, and positioning (CBSP) package.

Crucial Payloads on EOS-08 and Their Uses

 Three payloads are carried by it: the SiC UV Dosimeter, LEOS, the Global Navigation Satellite System — Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R), and the Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR). The Mid-Wave IR (MIR) and Long-wave IR (LWIR) bands are imaged by the EOIR payload both during the day and at night. The purpose of the GNSS-R payload is to show how GNSS-R-based remote sensing can be used to determine applications such as soil moisture, ocean surface winds, cryosphere applications across the Himalayan region, and flood detection.

Mpox is deemed a global public health emergency by the WHO

Following an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its spread to over a dozen African nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again proclaimed mpox to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The outbreak that affected several European countries in 2022 prompted the designation of a pandemic. The WHO's statement follows the Africa CDC's declaration, made the day before, that the outbreak is a public health emergency of continental security (PHECS). This is also the first time that a disease outbreak has been given the designation of a regional or global health emergency.

Historical Importance of WHO's Emergency Declarations and PHECS

If this is the first PHECS declaration made in Africa since 2017, it is also the first time that the WHO has issued a PHEIC for an African disease outbreak when the emergency committee convened for the first time to make decisions. An Associated Press investigation uncovered how WHO avoided labeling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a public health emergency for several months, despite WHO's August 2014 claims that it was during the emergency committee's very first meeting that the outbreak was labeled a public health emergency. Only until the emergency committee convened for the fourth time during the second Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2018–19 did the World Health Organization designate it a public health emergency.

A Novel, Deadly Clade 1b Virus Is Causing the Present Mumps Epidemic

The current mpox outbreak is driven by a new and more lethal clade 1b virus, which is effectively spread through sexual and non-sexual contact. If the milder clade 2b virus, which primarily affects men who have sex with men and has limited cases among children and adolescents, was the cause of the 2022 outbreak in the United Kingdom that spread to over 100 countries, then the current outbreak is driven by this virus. This year, there have been 5,17 deaths and 2,863 confirmed cases, mostly in the DRC. Human-to-human transmission of clade 1b began in September 2023 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Approximately two thirds of infections in the DRC occur in children under the age of fifteen. There is once more a severe shortage of vaccines.

Inadequate Vaccine Supply Complicates Africa's Efforts to Contain the Mpox Outbreak

Just 0.21 million of the 10 million medicines required to contain the outbreak could be provided right away. Despite mpox being widespread in Africa for years, vaccines were not administered, even during the earlier use of vaccines to impede transmission in Europe and the United States. Only Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently have authorization for the vaccine's emergency usage. If the business indicates interest in being included to the WHO's emergency use listing, it will be possible to get around the regulatory obstacle and enable international organizations to provide the vaccine to every nation in Africa. Even so, the 10 million pills won't reach Africa until the end of 2025.