Earth through Indian eye in the sky: ISRO’s meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS unveils its first batch of images

After landing on the Moon's southern pole and deploying an Indian solar observatory in space, the latest endeavour by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) involved placing an advanced eye in the sky to closely monitor the Earth's surface and oceans. Now, the initial fruits of this ambitious venture have come to light.

INSAT-3DS, a meteorological satellite pivotal for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and understanding atmospheric processes, has unveiled the first batch of images captured by its meteorological Imager and Sounder payloads.

Launched on February 17, 2024, the satellite swiftly completed orbit-raising operations and reached its designated geostationary slot for In-Orbit Testing (IOT) by February 28, 2024. The first imaging session for the Meteorological Payload IOT took place on March 7, 2024, yielding the images that have now been released.



Equipped with a 6-channel imager, the satellite captures images of the Earth's surface and atmosphere across various spectral channels. These channels enable the gathering of data on diverse atmospheric and surface phenomena, including clouds, aerosols, land surface temperature, vegetation health and water vapour distribution. Moreover, the imager can be tailored to capture specific features of interest.

In contrast, the 19-channel sounder captures radiation emitted by the Earth's atmosphere, with channels carefully selected to measure radiation emitted by different atmospheric constituents and properties like water vapour, ozone, carbon dioxide and other gases. Some channels are dedicated to measuring temperature variations across different atmospheric layers.

Together, these payloads can generate more than 40 geophysical data products, including sea-surface temperature, rainfall (precipitation) products, land surface temperature, atmospheric motion vectors and high-resolution winds, among others, catering to diverse user needs.

INSAT-3DS Satellite represents a continuation of the Third Generation Meteorological Satellite from Geostationary Orbit. Fully funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), this mission aims to enhance meteorological observations, monitor land and ocean surfaces for weather forecasting, and provide timely disaster warnings.

Its primary goals include monitoring the Earth's surface, observing the oceans, offering vertical profiles of various meteorological parameters of the atmosphere and facilitating satellite-aided search and rescue operations.