In its eighth flight conducted from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, (SDSC), SHAR, Sriharikota, on October 17, 2003, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C5, successfully launched the Indian remote sensing satellite, RESOURCESAT-1 (IRS-P6) into an 821 km high polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The 1,360-kg RESOURCESAT-1 is the most advanced and the heaviest remote sensing satellite built and launched by ISRO so far. This marks the seventh successive success of PSLV.



RESOURCESAT-1 carries three cameras:

• A high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) operating in three spectral bands in the Visible and Near Infrared Region (VNIR) with 5.8 metre spatial resolution and steerable up to 26 deg across track to obtain stereoscopic imagery and achieve a five day revisit capability

• A medium resolution LISS-3 operating in three spectral bands in VNIR and one in Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) band with 23.5 metre spatial resolution

• An Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) operating in three spectral bands in VNIR and one band in SWIR with 56 metre spatial resolution

RESOURCESAT-1 also carries a Solid State Recorder with a capacity of 120 Giga Bits to store the images taken by its cameras which can be read out later to the ground stations.

Once commissioned, RESOURCESAT-1, which is the tenth in the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series, will not only continue the services of IRS-1C and IRS-1D, but also enhance the remote sensing services by providing imagery with improved spatial resolution and additional spectral bands.