Indian Remote Sensing

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Indian Remote Sensing satellites (IRS) are a series of Earth Observation satellites, built, launched and maintained by Indian Space Research Organisation. The IRS series provides many remote sensing services to India.

IRS System

Following the successful demonstration flights of Bhaskhar and Bhaskara-2 satellites launched in 1979 and 1981, respectively, India began to develop the indigenous Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite program to support the national economy in the areas of agriculture, water resources, forestry and ecology, geology, water sheds, marine fisheries and coastal management.

Towards this end, India established the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) for which the Department of Space (DOS) is the nodal agency, providing operational remote sensing data services.[1] Data from the IRS satellites is received and disseminated by several countries all over the world. With the advent of high-resolution satellites new applications in the areas of urban sprawl, infrastructure planning and other large scale applications for mapping have been initiated.

The IRS system is the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites for civilian use in operation today in the world, with 12 operational satellites. All these are placed in polar sun-synchronous orbit and provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. Indian Remote Sensing Programme completed its 25 years of successful operations on March 17th, 2013.[2]

IRS data applications

Data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites are used for various applications of resources survey and management under the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS). Following is the list of those applications:

  • Preharvest crop area and production estimation of major crops.
  • Drought monitoring and assessment based on vegetation condition.
  • Flood risk zone mapping and flood damage assessment.
  • Hydro-geomorphological maps for locating underground water resources for drilling well.
  • Irrigation command area status monitoring
  • Snow-melt run-off estimates for planning water use in down stream projects
  • Land use and land cover mapping
  • Urban planning
  • Forest survey
  • Wetland mapping
  • Environmental impact analysis
  • Mineral Prospecting
  • Coastal studies
  • Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (initiated in 1992) for generating locale-specific prescriptions for integrated land and water resources development in 174 districts.

IRS launch log

The initial versions are composed of the 1 (A,B,C,D). The later versions are named based on their area of application including OceanSat, CartoSat, ResourceSat. Some of the satellites have alternate designations based on the launch number and vehicle (P series for PSLV).

Serial No. Satellite Date of Launch Launch Vehicle Status
1 IRS 1A 17 March 1988 Vostok, USSR Mission Completed
2 IRS 1B 29 August 1991 Vostok, USSR Mission Completed
3 IRS P1 (also IE) 20 September 1993 PSLV-D1 Crashed, due to launch failure of PSLV
4 IRS-P2 15 October 1994 PSLV-D2 Mission Completed
5 IRS-1C 28 December 1995 Molniya, Russia Mission Completed
6 IRS-P3 21 March 1996 PSLV-D3 Mission Completed
7 IRS 1D 29 September 1997 PSLV-C1 Mission Completed
8 IRS-P4 (Oceansat-1) 27 May 1999 PSLV-C2 Mission Completed
9 Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) 22 October 2001 PSLV-C3 Mission Completed
10 IRS P6 (Resourcesat-1) 17 October 2003 PSLV-C5 In Service
11 IRS P5 (Cartosat 1) 5 May 2005 PSLV-C6 In Service
12 Cartosat 2 (IRS P7) 10 January 2007 PSLV-C7 In Service
13 Cartosat 2A 28 April 2008 PSLV-C9 In Service
14 IMS 1 28 April 2008 PSLV-C9 In Service
15 Oceansat-2 23 September 2009 PSLV-C14 In Service
16 Cartosat-2B 12 July 2010 PSLV-C15 In Service
17 Resourcesat-2 20 April 2011 PSLV-C16 In Service
18 Megha-Tropiques 12 October 2011 PSLV-C18 In Service
19 RISAT-1 26 April 2012 PSLV-C19 In Service
20 SARAL 25 Feb 2013 PSLV-C20 In Service

Future IRS launches

Following are the remote sensing satellites planned by ISRO to be launched next strengthening the fleet of IRS satellites and widening their applications:[3][4]

  • RESOURCESAT-3: A follow on to Resourcesat-2, it will carry more advanced LISS-III-WS (Wide Swath) Sensor having similar swath and revisit capability as Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), thus overcoming any spatial resolution limitation of AWiFS. Satellite would also carry Atmospheric Correction Sensor (ACS) for quantitative interpretation and geophysical parameter retrieval. It slated to be launched during 2011-12.[4]
  • CARTOSAT-3: A continuation of Cartosat series, it will have a resolution 30 cm and 6 km swath suitable for cadastre and infrastructure mapping and analysis. It would also enhance disaster monitoring and damage assessment. It is slated to be launched during 2011-12.[4]
  • OCEANSAT-3: Oceasat-3 would carry Thermal IR Sensor, 12 channel Ocean Color Monitor, Scatterometer and Passive Microwave Radiometer. IR Sensor and Ocean Color Monitor would be used in the analysis for operational Potential Fishing Zones. Satellite is mainly for Ocean biology and sea state applications. It is slated to the launched aboard PSLV in 2012-13.[4]

Satellite data acquisition and processing

The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at Hyderabad is the nodal agency for reception, archival, processing and dissemination of remote sensing data in the country. NRSC acquires and processes data from all Indian remote sensing satellites like Cartosat-1, Cartosat-2, Resourcesat-1, IRS-1D, Oceansat-1 and Technology Experiment Satellite as well as foreign satellites like Terra, NOAA and ERS.

See also

References

  1. ↑ FAS website on IRS
  2. ↑ "Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) Series - A SAGA OF 25 YEARS". Indian Space Research Organisation. p. 9. Retrieved March 13, 2013. 
  3. ↑ IRS Satellites in ISRO annual report of year 2006-07
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Eleventh Five Year Plan For Indian Space Programme

External links

IRS-1
IRS-P
Cartosat
Oceansat
Resourcesat
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