Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1C, Completes Ten Years (Forwarded)

Indian Space Research Organisation
Bangalore, India

December 30, 2005

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1C, Completes Ten Years

The Indian Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-1C, which was launched on
December 28, 1995, has completed ten years of operation. IRS-1C carried a
unique combination of three state-of-the-art cameras -- a Panchromatic
Camera with a spatial resolution of 5.8 metre, a Linear Imaging Self
Scanner-3 with a resolution of 23 metre and a Wide Field Sensor with a
resolution of 188 metre. When it was launched, IRS-1C was the most
advanced civilian remote sensing satellite. This satellite was launched
into a polar sun-synchronous orbit of 817 km by the Russian Molniya Launch
Vehicle.

Even though designed life of IRS-1C was three years, the meticulous
in-orbit operations of the satellite by the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and
Command Network (ISTRAC) coupled with the highly efficient use of the
on-board propellant for its orbit and orientation control as well as the
high reliability built into its subsystems have enabled IRS-1C to far
outlive its designed life. The success of IRS-1C paved the way for India
to enter into the global remote sensing market and to capture a
substantial share for remote sensing data market. More than US $10 million
in revenue by data sale from IRS-1C has accrued so far.

IRS-1C data provided a great fillip to remote sensing applications in
India like crop acreage and yield estimation, forest resources survey,
urban mapping, flood mapping, wasteland mapping and drought monitoring and
assessment. IRS-1C was followed by an identical satellite IRS-1D, which
was launched by India's own Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV, on
September 29, 1997. This, in turn, paved the way for the launch of more
theme-oriented remote sensing satellites like OCEANSAT-1, RESOURCESAT-1
and CARTOSAT-1.

In the past one decade, IRS-1C has orbited the earth nearly sixty thousand
times and sent lakhs of imageries.


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