Photos: ISRO releases first images taken by INSAT-3DR

After the din of applause for the successful launch of the indigenous cryogenic engine had died down, ISRO got into the serious business and released the first pictures taken by the INSAT-3DR.  The INSAT series satellite is an advanced meteorological satellite last week aboard the GSLV rocket.

The imager aboard the satellite captured the Earth Disk on Wednesday and was shared widely by ISRO on the social media on Thursday, 15 September 2016. The image interestingly has the Moon in its background.

The weather satellite carries aboard an imaging system and an atmospheric sounder. After the successful launch of the satellite into the geostationary transfer orbit, it took two days of maneuvering and firing of the onboard motors to park the satellite into its final slot.

24 Hours Weather Monitoring

The built-in multi-spectral imager can take images of Earth from an altitude of 36,000 kilometers once every 26 minutes. The craft will relay detailed information about radiation, rainfall, precipitation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, cloud movements, and winds.

The images can be captured in six wavelength bands. It also carries an atmospheric sounder which provides detailed reports on humidity, temperatures and ozone levels in the atmosphere. The craft also carries two powerful transponders- one for relaying weather data to the host of weather stations spread across the width and breadth of the nation and another for rescue and search operations.

First Images from INSAT-3DR Imagerhttps://t.co/JmTijbsejf pic.twitter.com/JPp8qC5dEs

— ISRO (@isro) September 15, 2016

Bitter Sweet Success

The success of the GSLV equipped with a desi version of the cryogenic engine is a significant milestone. The path to glory was not easy, and the program was marred by repeated failures. The GSLV was dubbed ‘The Naughty Boy’ after repeated failures.

To add salt to the wounds, Russia failed to transfer the technology after intense US pressure and ISRO had to design the cryo engine from the scratch. The September launch was the first operational flight and the third successful launch of the vehicle.