ISRO's INSAT-3DS captures first images of Earth

Bengaluru: India’s latest meteorological satellite, INSAT-3DS, has captured the first set of Earth images on March 7, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Monday.

ISRO announced the commencement of the satellite’s Earth-imaging operations by releasing images captured by the meteorological payloads – the 6-channel imager and the 19-channel sounder. The space agency said the payload parameters were found to be nominal and compliant with payload specifications.

ISRO launched the GSLV-F14/INSAT-3DS mission on February 17 and placed the satellite on the designated geostationary slot for In Orbit Testing (IOT) on February 28. “IOT of the satellite communications was conducted between February 29 and March 3. As part of the meteorological payload IOT, the first session of imaging for the imager and sounder payloads was carried out on March 7,” ISRO said.

The satellite is aimed at enhancing meteorological observations and monitoring of land and ocean surfaces for weather forecasting and disaster warning. It is designed to work with currently operational INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR satellites to augment these services. It has the imager, the sounder, a data relay transponder, and a satellite-aided search and rescue responder as payloads.

The 6-channel imager captures images of the Earth's surface and atmosphere across multiple spectral channels, or wavelengths, allowing comprehensive coverage of various atmospheric and surface phenomena like aerosols, land surface temperature, and vegetation health. The 19-channel sounder captures radiation emitted by the Earth's atmosphere and helps study various atmospheric properties.

The payloads generate over 40 geophysical data products like sea surface temperature, land surface temperature, fog intensity, cloud properties, mean surface pressure, and temperature profiles for the user community. “The data collected derive information about the vertical structure of the atmosphere, crucial for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and understanding atmospheric processes,” ISRO said.

The imager and sounder payloads, designed and developed at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, are similar to payloads flown on 3D and 3DR, with significant improvements in features including radiometric accuracy, and imaging throughput. The first images were processed and released at ISRO's master control facility in Hassan.