Insat-3DS begins capturing crucial Earth images

BENGALURU: India’s latest

meteorological satellite

Insat-3DS has successfully initiated its Earth

imaging

operations, marking a milestone in the country’s

weather monitoring

and

forecasting capabilities

. On March 7, 2024, the satellite’s advanced meteorological payloads, including the six-channel imager and 19-channel sounder, captured their first set of images from space.
Launched on Feb 17,

Insat-3DS

underwent a series of critical orbit-raising manoeuvres before reaching its designated geostationary slot on Feb 28.

“Extensive In Orbit Testing (IOT) of the satellite’s communications and meteorological payloads was conducted between Feb 29 and March 3, ensuring all systems were functioning nominally,” Isro said.

The first imaging session on March 7 confirmed that the payload parameters comply with specifications, paving the way for regular Earth observation operations.

“The successful imaging initiation demonstrates the satellite’s readiness to provide crucial data for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and atmospheric research,” Isro said..
Developed by Isro’s Space Applications Centre (SAC), the imager and sounder payloads represent improvements over previous generations of weather satellites. “Enhancements include improved radiometric accuracy, black body calibration, thermal management, and imaging throughput, enabling more precise and efficient data collection,” Isro said.

It added that the six-channel imager captures images of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere across multiple spectral channels, allowing for monitoring of clouds, aerosols, land surface temperature, vegetation health, and water vapour distribution.
“…The 19-channel sounder, on the other hand, measures radiation emitted by the atmosphere, providing valuable data on atmospheric constituents, temperature variations, and the vertical structure of the atmosphere,” Isro said.
“Together, these payloads will generate over 40 geophysical data products, including sea surface temperature, rainfall (precipitation) products, land surface temperature, fog intensity, outgoing longwave radiation, atmospheric motion vectors, high-resolution winds, upper tropospheric humidity, cloud properties, smoke, fire, mean surface pressure, temperature profiles, water vapour profiles, surface skin temperature, and total Ozone,” Isro added.
The data collected by Insat-3DS will play a crucial role in improving weather forecasting accuracy, enabling better preparedness for extreme weather events, and enhancing our understanding of atmospheric processes and climate change.