Data Reception and Dissemination

National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is responsible for remote sensing satellite data acquirement and processing, data dissemination, aerial remote sensing and decision support for disaster management.

NRSC has archived a wealth of satellite images from Indian and foreign satellites since 1983. NRSC has its data reception facility at Shadnagar, 65 km from Hyderabad city. The station has four state of the art antenna systems for data reception and archival.

The Satellite data processing chain has a user friendly web mechanism to enable users to order data of their requirement. It can facilitate to acquire data pertaining to any part of the globe on user request.

The Aerial facility has two Beech craft aircraft to acquire data utilizing various sensors like Aerial cameras, Laser instrument, Synthetic aperture radar and Magnetometer.

The aerial facility has carried out number of studies for mapping and infrastructure planning for towns and cities, Cadastral surveys, canal alignment for interlinking of rivers, Digital elevation model (DEM) applications ,Mineral targeting etc., It has also carried out international projects in Maldives & Emirates of Dubai.

The Decision Support Centre (DSC) is a single window information provider on major natural disasters like Floods, Agricultural Drought, and Forest fires, Cyclones, Earthquakes and Landslides. It provides near real time information to State and Central government for relief, rehabilitation and planning. The DSC also supports International Charter on Space and Major Disasters and Sentinel Asia. Under this, critical support was extended to Myanmar during Nargis (2008) Cyclone; Indonesian floods (2008) and China earthquake (2008).

India's First Mission to Moon

“THE MOON “with the history of the early solar system etched on it beckons mankind from time immemorial to admire its marvels and discover its secrets. Understanding the moon provides a pathway to unravel the early evolution of the solar system and that of the planet earth.

Through the ages, the Moon, our closest extraterrestrial body has aroused curiosity in our mind much more than any other objects in the sky. This led to scientific study of the Moon, driven by human desire and mission for knowledge. This is also reflected in the ancient verse.

Exploration of the moon got a boost with the advent of the space age and the decades of sixties and seventies saw a myriad of successful unmanned and manned missions to moon. This was followed by a hiatus of about one and a half-decade. During this period we refined our knowledge about the origin and evolution of the moon and its place as a link to understand the early history of the Solar System and of the earth.

However, new questions about lunar evolution also emerged and new possibilities of using the moon as a platform for further exploration of the solar system and beyond were formulated. Moon again became the prime target for exploration and a new renaissance of rejuvenated interest dawned. All the major space faring nations of the world started planning missions to explore the moon and also to utilize moon as a potential base for space exploration.

The idea of undertaking an Indian scientific mission to Moon was initially mooted in a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1999 that was followed up by discussions in the Astronautical Society of India in 2000. Based on the recommendations made by the learned members of these forums, a National Lunar Mission Task Force was constituted by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Leading Indian scientists and technologists participated in the deliberations of the Task Force that provided an assessment on the feasibility of an Indian Mission to the Moon as well as dwelt on the focus of such a mission and its possible configuration.

Village Resource Centres

To provide services space allowed directly to the rural population, ISRO launched the Village Resource Centre (VRC) program in partnership with renowned NGOs / trusts and state agencies / central.

VRC 473 were established in 22 territories of the States / Union, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim. Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and A & N Islands.

The VRC is connected to the centers of knowledge / experts and agricultural universities, institutes of Skills Development and Hospitals. More than 6500 programs have been conducted by the VRC in the areas of skills development for agriculture / horticulture, fisheries, livestock, water resources, Tele health care, awareness programs, empowerment of women, education further, computer literacy, micro credits, micro finance / professional training for livelihood support, etc. So far, more than five lakh people have benefited from the services of VRC.

About Disaster Management

The Disaster Management Support (DMS) Programme of ISRO, provides timely support and services from aero-space systems, both imaging and communications, towards efficient management of disasters in the country. The DMS programme addresses disasters such as flood, cyclone, drought, forest fire, landslide and Earthquake etc.

These include design of digital data base for facilitating hazard zonation, damage assessment, etc., monitoring of major natural disasters using satellite and aerial data; development of suitable techniques and tools for decision support, establishing satellite based reliable communication network, deployment of emergency communication equipments and R&D towards early warning of disasters.

To support the total cycle of disaster/ emergency management for the country, in near real time, the database creation is addressed through National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM), a GIS based repository of data. NDEM is envisaged to have core data, hazard-specific data, and dynamic data in spatial as well as aspatial form.

Remote Sensing Applications

Remote sensing has enabled mapping, studying, monitoring and management of various resources like agriculture, forestry, geology, water, ocean etc. It has further enabled monitoring of environment and thereby helping in protection. In the last four decades it has grown as a major tool for collecting information on almost every aspect on the earth.

With the availability of very high spatial resolution satellites in the recent years, the applications have multiplied. In India remote sensing has been used for various applications during the last four decades and has contributed considerably towards development.

India has its own satellites like Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series - Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansat etc which provide required data for carrying out various projects. Some of the important projects carried out in the country include Groundwater Prospects Mapping under Drinking Water Mission, Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro meteorology and Land based observations (FASAL), Forest Cover/Type Mapping, Grassland Mapping, Biodiversity Characterisation, Snow & Glacier Studies, Land Use/Cover mapping, Coastal Studies, Coral and Mangroves Studies, Wasteland Mapping etc.

The information generated by large number of projects have been used by various departments, industries and others for different purposes like development planning, monitoring, conservation etc.