| The Indian Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-1C, which
was launched on 28 December,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 29 September, 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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