April 19, 2003

The meteorological instruments on board INSAT-3A have been tested in the last two days and the pictures received indicate good performance of both the cameras. It may be noted that INSAT-3A, which was launched on April 10, 2003, carries two meteorological cameras

1. A three-channel Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) with 2 km spatial resolution in the Visible spectral band and 8 km resolution in Thermal Infrared band and Water Vapour band
    

2. A Charge Coupled Device (CCD) Camera, which operates in the Visible, Near Infrared and Shortwave Infrared bands, providing a spatial resolution of 1 km.

The CCD camera was tested on April 17th and the VHRR on April 18th.

The first imagery from the INSAT-3A Very High Resolution Radiometer(VHRR). This was generated by combining the data received on April 18, 2003 in the Visible, Thermal Infrared and Water-Vapour bands.