Earth Observations System (EOS) is an important space infrastructure that has been established by the Department of Space (DOS). The system, which was commissioned in 1988 with the launch of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-1A, has the world’s largest constellation of five satellites (IRS-1C, IRS-1D, IRS-P3, IRS-P4 and TES) presently in operation. It provides space-based remote sensing data in a variety of spatial resolutions and spectral bands meeting the needs of various applications.

The EOS definition, development, operation and its application are co-ordinated by the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS), for which DOS is the nodal agency. NNRMS is an integrated resource management system aimed at optimal utilisation of country’s natural resources by a proper and systematic inventory of resource availability using EOS data in conjunction with conventional techniques. NNRMS is supported at the national level by the Planning Committee of NNRMS (PC-NNRMS), which provides guidelines
for implementation of the system and also oversees the progress of remote sensing applications for natural resources management in the country. The NNRMS activities are guided by ten Standing Committees, namely, (i) Agriculture & Soils, (ii) Bio-Resources, (iii) Geology and Mineral Resources, (iv) Water Resources (v) Ocean Resources (vi) Cartography & Mapping, (vii) Urban Management (viii) Rural Development (ix) Technology & Training and (x) Meteorology. Each of the Standing Committees is chaired by Secretaries of the respective Government departments and includes experts from major
user departments.

Satellites in Operation
There are five Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites in operation at present — IRS-1C, IRS-1D,IRS-P3, IRS-P4 and Technology Experiment Satellite (TES). IRS-1B, which was launched in August 1991, was decommissioned during the year after it served for more than 10 years, even though it was designed for only three years life.

IRS-1C and IRS-1D
IRS-1C and IRS-1D, which are identical, were launched in December 1995 and September 1997 respectively. They carry three cameras, Panchromatic Camera (PAN), Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-III) and Wide Field Sensor (WiFS) with following specifications:

IRS-P3 is operated in earth pointing mode for the operation of WiFS and MOS and in the sky-pointing mode for the operation of the X-ray instrument.

Follow-on Satellites for Earth Observation

IRS-P6 (RESOURCESAT -1)IRS-P6 (RESOURCESAT-1) is planned for launch by PSLV in 2002-03. It will carry the following payloads:

(iii)  an Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) with a spatial resolution better than 70 m in
      three spectral bands and providing a swath of 740 km.

IRS-P6 will not only provide service continuity to IRS-1C and IRS-1D but also enhance the service capabilities in the areas of agriculture, disaster management, land and water resources, with better resolution imageries.

During the year, assembly of the flight platform structure, preliminary thermal analysis of the integrated spacecraft and thermal assembly of flight platform structure have been completed. All the mechanisms of solar array deployment components have been realised and sub-assembly level tests are under progress. Software requirements for the additional features like on-board attitude determination using star sensor, array damping compensator, on-board attitude determination using magnetometer, improved gyro compassing, etc., have been completed.

IRS-P5 (CARTOSAT -1)
IRS-P5 is planned for launch by PSLV in 2003-04. The satellite is primarily intended for advanced cartographic applications. IRS-P5 will have two panchromatic cameras on board with 2.5 m resolution with a swath of 30 km each. These cameras are mounted with a tilt of +26 deg and –5 deg along the track with respect to nadir to provide stereo pairs of images needed for the generation of Digital Terrain Model (DTM)/Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of the required regions. The data products will be used for cartographic applications, cadastral mapping and updating, land use and other GIS applications. The satellite has a revisit capability of 5 days, which can be realised by steering the spacecraft about roll axis by 26 degrees.

During the year the equipment panel design has been finalised. Various components are under development and testing.

CARTOSAT -2
Cartosat-2 will be an advanced remote sensing satellite carrying, on board, a single panchromatic camera capable of providing scene specific spot imageries for cartographic and other applications. The satellite will have high agility with capability to steer along and across the track up to 45 degrees. It will be placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 630 km. It can have a revisit period of 4 days, which can be improved to one day with suitable orbit manoeuvre. The panchromatic camera is designed to provide better than 1 m spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 10 km. A host of new technologies will be developed and qualified to meet the mission specifications.

During the year, structural configuration studies have been completed. The configuration of data handling system for PAN has been finalised. Development of 10 bit JPEG Data Compression System is nearing completion.

Ground Segment
The ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) monitors and controls all the IRS satellites besides other low earth orbit satellites. ISTRAC has a network of ground stations located at Bangalore, Sriharikota, Port Blair, Thiruvananthapuram, Mauritius and Bearslake with multi-mission Spacecraft Control Centre at Bangalore. TTC stations at Brunei and Biak have also been added recently.

During the year, ISTRAC has been accorded ISO: 9001:1994 certification for following the standards of carrying out space operations. The significant activities of ISTRAC during the year were the TTC support provided for the first developmental flight of GSLV in April 2001 and for PSLV-C3 mission in October 2001.

ISTRAC, at present tracks, monitors and controls IRS-1C, IRS-1D, IRS-P3, IRS-P4 and TES. ISTRAC was extensively used for conducting various demonstrations on TES. The payload operations on IRS-1C and IRS-1D are carried out over the Indian stations at Shadnagar in India as well as foreign data reception stations at Fairbank (USA), Seoul, Korea, Cotopaxy (Ecuador), Dubai, Neustralitz (Germany), Norman (USA), Tokai (Japan) and Riyad (Saudi Arabia). On an average about 350 to 400 payload operations are being carried out per month.

IRS-P3 payload operations are being carried out for about 250 times per month over Shadnagar in India, Neustralitz and Wallops (Germany) and Maspolamas (Spain).

The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad, continues to receive remote sensing data from the Indian satellites, IRS-1C, IRS-1D, IRS-P3, IRS-P4 and the TES as well as the US NOAA-14, Landsat-5 and European ERS-2.

The Data Reception Station (DRS) of NRSA at Shadnagar, has been further augmented to receive data from IRS-P5 (CARTOSAT) and IRS-P6 (RESOURCESAT) which are expected to be launched in the coming years. During the year, the facility for reception and processing of data from TES was commissioned. DRS has three ground terminals of which two are earmarked to receive IRS, Landsat and ERS data. The third is used to receive IRS-P4 and NOAA data and it is being upgraded which will enable the three terminals to receive data from any of the satellites.

Data from the Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and Multi Spectral Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) on board Indian IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT) are now made available on the Internet. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), MCMRFF, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) etc. are some of the important users of the data.

There has been a significant increase in the number of data products generated by NRSA during the year. The average turn-around-time for data supply has been improved to five days. The data is also available in GIS compatible, Geo-tiff format. About 90 percent of the data are supplied on Compact Disk (CD). In addition to IRS-1C and IRS-1D PAN and LISS-III data, browse data of WiFS along with IRS-P3 WiFS, are available at NRSA website on the Internet. Promotional activities have been stepped up to increase awareness for satellite data products and also to encourage the user base. Emphasis is also being given to promote IRS data in the neighbouring countries.

The announcement of RSDP is an important step towards making transparent, the procedures of satellite data distribution, including those from high-resolution imaging systems. It would help to regulate the process of image distribution so that Indian users are not denied access to valuable satellite based imageries, which can be used in the development of natural resources.

Some of the major applications to which remote sensing is being used in the country are highlighted in the following paragraphs.

Crop Acreage and Production Estimation (CAPE): CAPE was initiated in 1995 with the sponsorship of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. Under this project, multi-date IRS satellite data are used for pre-harvest acreage and production estimation for major food crops as well as cotton. The estimates are provided for kharif rice in Bihar, rabi rice in Orissa, mustard in Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and West Bengal, wheat in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and sorghum in Maharashtra.

FASAL: Based on the success of CAPE, an enlarged and comprehensive scheme known as Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agrometeorology and Land based observations (FASAL) has been taken up. FASAL now covers kharif rice in Orissa as a pilot project as well as forecasting kharif rice production at the national level. It is proposed to set up a FASAL-NCCF (National Centre for Crop Forecasting) under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Drought Assessment and Monitoring: Based on the data collected by the satellites on the vegetation indices and ground based information, fortnightly bulletins on crop conditions depicting agricultural drought are being issued for eleven states, and at sub-district level for six states during kharif season.

Flood Mapping: The Flood Mapping, using satellite imageries are being undertaken since 1987 to help Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and State Relief Agencies and
Central Water Commission. Under this, flood prone river basins of Brahmaputra, Kosi, Ganga, Indus, Godavari and Mahanadi are covered and near real time inundation and damage estimation maps are generated.

Forest Monitoring: The Forest Survey of India carries out the forest cover mapping on 1:250,000 scale on a biennial basis. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have used
satellite based data for preparation of forest working plans. A biodiversity characterisation at landscape level has also been taken up in four regions of the country, namely, North-Eastern Himalaya, Western Himalaya, Western Ghats and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The activities related to preparation of biome level ecological zone maps and topographical details are nearing completion. The project is being undertaken with the sponsorship of the Department of Biotechnology.

A few medicinal plant colonies in the Himalayas like Hyppophae rhamnoides, Ephedra gerardiana and Taxus baccata have been mapped.

Irrigation Command Areas: Under the sponsorship of the Central Water Commission,
14 large irrigated commands covering five states (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal) extending to an area of 3.12 Mha have been taken up for monitoring using satellite data. So far evaluation of seven command areas has been completed.

Assessment of vulnerability of areas in Lakhimpur District in Assam

Snow-melt Run-off Prediction: Forecasting and monitoring of Snow-melt Run-off for the Satellite River Basin is being carried out since 1994 with the sponsorship of Bhakra-Beas Management Board. The forecast is made every year by the first week of April, which is further updated subsequently.

Integrated Land and Water Resources Development: Generation of data for Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD) for 84 Mha area covering 175 districts located
in 28 States have been completed and similar work has been extended to Koraput- Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) region of Orissa. The Department of Land Resources under the Ministry of Rural Development is now working towards institutionalising IMSD
for implementation.

Wasteland Mapping: The Wasteland Mapping has been carried out in five phases during 1986-2000 on a 1:50,000 scale under the sponsorship of the Department of Land Resources under the Ministry of Rural Development. 13 categories of wastelands in three broad categories have been identified — (A) Barren rocky/sheet rock; (B) Gullied area/ravines; and (C) Mining/industrial wastelands. A wasteland atlas of India has been generated and the information is used for planning several developmental programmes. A digital data base is also now being created.

False Colour Composite of Chattisgarh State, with the inserts showing Raipur, 
the capital city & Vidhan Soudha

National Drinking Water Mission: Under the sponsorship of the Department of Drinking Water of the Ministry of Rural Development, maps showing prospective zones of ground water occurrence and recharge are being prepared on 1:50,000 scale in six states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Kerala and Rajasthan). So far 930 maps have been prepared out of the 1800 maps required. The maps are integrated with GIS data base and identify areas and sites for locating borewells.

Coastal Studies: Information on Coastal wet lands, land forms, land use, shore line changes, etc, have been mapped on 1:250,000/1:50,000 scales for the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Coral reef maps on 1:50,000 scale for Gulf of Kutchch, Gulf of Mannar, Palk’s Bay, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar islands have been generated. Mapping of features between High Tide Line (HTL) and Low Tide Line (LTL) and land use features for a strip of 500 m from HTL, on 1:25,000 scale, under Coastal Regulation Zone has also been carried out. The maps are used for preparing coastal zone management plans and for formulating regulations on construction along HTL.

Pradesh.Data base has been created for the entire 2000 km long corridor and LHZ maps have been prepared. The routes covered include: Rishikesh-Rudraprayag-Chamoli-Badrinath, Rishikesh-Gaumukh, Rudraprayag-Okhimath-Kedarnath,Chamoli-Okhimath and Pithroragarh-Malpa, all in Uttaranchal; Shimla-Manali, Shimla-Sumdo and Dalhousie-Brahmaur in Himachal Pradesh. The maps are used by State Public Works Departments (PWD), Border Roads Organisation and some NGOs.

Gujarat Earthquake: The space based imagery along with aerial remote sensing provided inputs to the Gujarat State Administration during the Earthquake in January 2001 in terms of locating the worst affected towns, to assess the changes in the terrain features and damage assessment. The satellite news gathering terminal was also moved from the Space Applications Centre and set up at Bhuj which was the only link till February 2, 2001 to co-ordinate rescue and relief operation.

Uttaranchal as viewed by IRS-1C

• Mapping of rubber plantations affected by Corynospora disease (called eye-spot) and acreage estimation of arecanut in Puttur taluk in Karnataka.

• Acreage estimation of chilli crop in Bellary district of Karnataka and late kharif and rabi onion acreage estimation in Nasik district of Maharashtra.

• Identification of silkworm food plants of forest species (mainly Tasar) in nine districts of Karnataka.

• GIS modelling for ground water potential for Barsi watershed in Maharashtra and identification of drinking water sources in the fluoride affected villages of Chandrapur and the route for laying water supply pipeline in collaboration with Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, Maharashtra.

• Generation of digital database on 1:1 million scale covering base maps (roads), slope, lithology, relief, contour lines and ethology towards reconstruction of the palaeo drainage network in Saraswathi river basin.

• Analysis of shoreline change in Visakhapatnam and Kakinada coastal areas in Andhra Pradesh jointly with Marine Wing of Geological
  Survey of India.

• Lithological and structural mapping of ophiolites of the Indus Suture Zone in NW Himalaya in collaboration with Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun.

• Assessing the change in sandstone quarry area and its impact on agriculture, soils, water bodies, urbanisation, landscape and land use as well as assessment of causes and remedies for ground water level rise in parts of Jodhpur, Rajasthan and adjacent areas.

• Detection and mapping of human settlements like cities, towns, villages etc, in Mathura, Bharatpur and adjoining areas.

• Identification of five eco-tourism spots in northern part of Midnapore district, West Bengal considering forest, plantation, water bodies and accessibility.

Jharkhand State as viewed by IRS-1C and Land use map derived 
from satellite data (Right)

RRSSCs have also undertaken several projects for users like water quality production and watershed management, ground water assessment and management, geological studies, land resource study, forestry, environment assessment, urban planning, etc. A project was also undertaken for optimising the movement of fertilisers based on crop condition assessment using space-based data.

Towards institutionalisation of remote sensing and GIS activities in the States, DOS has promoted the setting up of State Natural Resources Management System on the lines of NNRMS. The SNRMS will co-ordinate the natural resources information needs of various state departments/agencies and natural resources management in the state.

State Remote Sensing Application Centre will act as the nodal agency in implementation
of SNRMS. The State government of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Gujarat, Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal and Manipur have already set up SNRMS and efforts are being made in generation of natural resources census and human resources development in the area of remote sensing and GIS.

The North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NE-SAC), established in December 2000 through the joint efforts of North Eastern Council (NEC) and Department of Space (DOS) has completed the project on Landuse and erosion hazard susceptibility mapping around Umiam reservoir and East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. The projects on Bio-diversity characterisation of Bomdila-Shergaon-Eagle nest area with special reference to Taxus Wallichiana Zucc, and
for conservation in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh using high resolution data,
are being executed.