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Remembering IRS-1C Imaging Payloads: A Giant Leap in Indian Space Imaging System Evolution

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Abstract

Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) programme started in 1970s and has grown very systematically in all aspects of sensors, data products and applications for resources survey. Imaging systems onboard IRS-1C satellite, flown in 1995, made a remarkable impact by providing on a single platform, the ability to simultaneously image in multiple spectral channels, multiple geometric resolutions and multiple revisit times in addition to stereo viewing. This development of three-tier imaging system of IRS-1C had been a giant leap in Indian space imaging systems evolution. It required development of compact high-resolution sensor, medium-resolution multispectral system and wide swath imager. This review article brings out the innovative solutions adopted, some of the major challenges faced and new technologies developed. In addition, it briefly provides the foundational research that was carried out in sensors prior to IRS-1C and the improvements carried out in spacecraft systems to cater to the requirements of imaging. The development of IRS-1C made significant impact on the development of subsequent imaging systems, and these aspects are discussed in terms of growth of three-tier imaging, high-resolution systems, etc.

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Acknowledgements

The development of imaging systems had been a great experience of team work of very large number of scientists, engineers and technician across various divisions, groups and areas of ISRO centers. Authors had the opportunity to interact with many of them during the course of the work. We wish to profusely thank all those persons. Information from many of the project documents and papers published by many of the colleagues had been referred here. We wish to thank all the project persons, particularly IRS-1C Project Director Shri Kalyanaraman and Deputy Project Director Shri RK Rajangam. We are grateful to Dr George Joseph, Dr VS Iyengar, Dr Ramrattan, Shri K. Nagachenchaiah, Shri BV Aradhye and Shri VN Kaduskar who had guided the teams for various activities of payload development. We are also thankful to Dr KK. Gupta, Shri Saji Abraham and Shri D. Subrahmanyam who had made significant design contributions to IRS-1C sensors. We sincerely thank anonymous reviewers and editors for their valuable suggestions which made the article look better.

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  1. ISRO, Bengaluru, India

    A. S. Kiran Kumar

  2. Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad, India

    D. R. M. Samudraiah

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  1. A. S. Kiran Kumar
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  2. D. R. M. Samudraiah
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Correspondence to D. R. M. Samudraiah.

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Kiran Kumar, A.S., Samudraiah, D.R.M. Remembering IRS-1C Imaging Payloads: A Giant Leap in Indian Space Imaging System Evolution. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 49, 23–40 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-020-01277-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-020-01277-3

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