ISRO to launch two satellites by year-end

“A globe-orbiting satellite, OCEANSAT is being launched for the first time with a view to study the various oceanic features like winds, temperature, humidity, waves and currents,” Dr M S Narayanan head of Atmospheric Science told The Indian Express.

The year 1998 being the International Year of the Oceans, the ISRO scientists are working overtime to ensure that two new satellites, including OCEANSAT, are launched before December.

“We want to make an in-depth study of the oceans on a continuous basis through OCEANSAT mainly because the weather and atmospheric changes aremostly governed by the changes in the sea surface temperature,” Dr Abhijit Sircar, a scientist at the Meteorology and Oceanography Group (MOG) said. “Higher the sea surface temperature, more intense would be the weather system,” he explained.

OCEANSAT is also being equipped with special kind of sensors operating on microwaves, which can even penetrate through clouds. Explaining the technicalities, Sircar said: “While INSAT cannot see what is below the clouds, through OCEANSAT, we will be able to collect data of sea temperature, winds, waves and humidity any time whether clouds are there or not. Till now the Indian space scientists studying the ocean have to depend upon a few and sparse data supplied by half a dozen ships that the country has. Similarly, data supplied by foreign satellites similar to OCEANSAT are made available to the Indian scientists almost a month or so after they are collected. So, Indian scientists had to develop indigenous satellite because, they were in need of “instantaneous”data. “All these problems,” Narayanan said, “would be resolved once the OCEANSAT is launched because instantaneous data supplied by the satellite will be of great help for ship movements, navy operations besides offshore industries as also for fishermen.” Another major advantage is that OCEANSAT will also collect data from the North Pole, the South Pole and also from Antarctica, which is of special interest to India. Equally important would be the role of INSAT-II-E. Since earlier satellites of INSAT generation are towards the end of their lives, INSAT-II-E, according to scientists, would be of great help not only in maintaining the continuity of meteorological forecasting but would also boost the country’s telecommunication network. “Once the satellite is launched and becomes operational, it will have tremendous effect on the country’s meteorological forecasting,” said Dr P C Joshi, a scientist at the MOG.