India's spy satellite all set to keep a tab on Pakistan, China .

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RISAT begins sending images: ISRO


West Bengal delta as seen from RISAT-2, 500km x 500km resolution

Kolkata (PTI): The all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT), launched on April 20, has begun sending images, a top official of Indian Space Research Organisation said here on Friday.

"The RISAT has begun taking images since two days ago," ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said on the sidelines of an interactive session with members of the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce.

He said that the RISAT would take about a month to stabilise. India earlier bought images from the Canadian all-weather satellite before the RISAT was sent to the orbit.

The satellite, equipped with spying capabilities and capable of taking high-resolution images through clouds and using night vision, will help security agencies keep a watch on movement on the borders.



RISAT is different from previous remote-sensing satellites as it uses the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), equipped with many antennas to receive signals that are processed into high-resolution pictures.

The SAR, developed by the Israel Aerospace Industries, gives RISAT the defence capabilities.

The 300-kg satellite, orbiting at 550 km above earth, will also come handy in mapping and managing natural disasters such as floods and landslides besides increasing defence surveillance capabilities.

Meanwhile, speaking about Chandrayan-I, the first unmanned scientific mission to moon by India, Mr. Nair said the cameras of the satellite were capable of taking 10-metre close up shots of the moon's surface against 100 metres in other satellites.



The Hindu News Update Service

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RISAT specs from National Remote Sensing Centre: ISRO

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