IRS-1C Completes Ten Years
of Operation

The Indian Remote Sensing satellite, IRS-1C, which was launched on December 28, 1995, has completed ten years of operation. IRS-1C carries 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 height by the Russian Molniya launch vehicle.

Though designed for three years life, the meticulous in-orbit operations of the satellite by ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network 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 design 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 of 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 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 earth nearly sixty thousand times and beamed lakhs of imageries back home .

Artist’s concept of IRS-1C