CHENNAI: The imaging and
communication satellites are proving to be worth their weight in gold,
what with the sentinels in the sky helping the nation save millions of
lives during natural disasters like cyclones. On this occasion, too, the
IMD has benefitted fully from technology in dealing with Phailin.
Until the 1970s, cyclones along Andhra Pradesh and Orissa routinely claimed thousands of lives. Now, the casualties are several times lower, the exception being the 1999 Odisha "super cyclone" 05B which killed more than 15,000 people. Today, with 11 Indian remote sensing satellites in service, the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad is able to provide data that helps agencies forecast cyclones more than 72 hours in advance and evacuate people.
"In the 1960s and 1970s, cyclones on the Andhra Pradesh coast killed people by tens of thousands," says scientist P M Bhargava who served as the National Knowledge Commission vice-chairman. "Of late, many cyclones have hit the shores without causing a single casualty, thanks to our remote sensing satellites."
Depending on remote sensing data from the US, India had suffered delays and denials at crucial times. India launched its first experimental remote sensing satellite Bhaskara-1 on June 7, 1979, but disaster forecasting, live monitoring and proactive management took a long time to attain near-perfection. "Today, India's array of remote sensing satellites - one of the largest constellations in the world - with spatial resolutions ranging from less than a metre to 500 metres allows accurate forecast and preparedness," says Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik. Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan, in an earlier interview with TOI, called it "a silent contribution."
In the aftermath of disasters, like the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the 2004 tsunami, Indian satellites played a crucial role in mitigation. Risat-1 launched in April last year and Risat-2 which has been in orbit since April 2009 have the ability to look for impending cyclones even at night and through clouds. The synthetic aperture radar in the satellites enables applications in agriculture too, especially for paddy monitoring during kharif season. Saral, an Indio-French satellite launched on February 25, 2013, can study ocean circulation and sea surface elevation.
"Those who criticise the expenditure on space science don't realise its contribution to not just saving lives but alleviating poverty," says Bhargava, who founded the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. "You can argue that the space department gets higher allocation, but it is well justified. After all, Indian space scientist makes satellites and rockets at a fraction of the cost of similar US projects."
If millions have been moved from the Odisha coast to safety over the last two days, part of the credit should go to India's satellites, the sentinels in space.
Indian remote sensing satellites in operation now:
Satellite Launch date
Saral February 25, 2013
Risat-1 April 26, 2012
Megha-Tropiques October 12, 2011
Resourcesat-2 April 20, 2011
Cartosat-2B July 12, 2010
Oceansat-2 September 23, 2009
Risat-2 April 20, 2009
Cartosat-2A April 28, 2008
Cartosat-2 January 10, 2007
Cartosat-1 May 05, 2005
Resourcesat-1 October 17, 2003
Until the 1970s, cyclones along Andhra Pradesh and Orissa routinely claimed thousands of lives. Now, the casualties are several times lower, the exception being the 1999 Odisha "super cyclone" 05B which killed more than 15,000 people. Today, with 11 Indian remote sensing satellites in service, the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad is able to provide data that helps agencies forecast cyclones more than 72 hours in advance and evacuate people.
"In the 1960s and 1970s, cyclones on the Andhra Pradesh coast killed people by tens of thousands," says scientist P M Bhargava who served as the National Knowledge Commission vice-chairman. "Of late, many cyclones have hit the shores without causing a single casualty, thanks to our remote sensing satellites."
Depending on remote sensing data from the US, India had suffered delays and denials at crucial times. India launched its first experimental remote sensing satellite Bhaskara-1 on June 7, 1979, but disaster forecasting, live monitoring and proactive management took a long time to attain near-perfection. "Today, India's array of remote sensing satellites - one of the largest constellations in the world - with spatial resolutions ranging from less than a metre to 500 metres allows accurate forecast and preparedness," says Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik. Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan, in an earlier interview with TOI, called it "a silent contribution."
In the aftermath of disasters, like the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the 2004 tsunami, Indian satellites played a crucial role in mitigation. Risat-1 launched in April last year and Risat-2 which has been in orbit since April 2009 have the ability to look for impending cyclones even at night and through clouds. The synthetic aperture radar in the satellites enables applications in agriculture too, especially for paddy monitoring during kharif season. Saral, an Indio-French satellite launched on February 25, 2013, can study ocean circulation and sea surface elevation.
"Those who criticise the expenditure on space science don't realise its contribution to not just saving lives but alleviating poverty," says Bhargava, who founded the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. "You can argue that the space department gets higher allocation, but it is well justified. After all, Indian space scientist makes satellites and rockets at a fraction of the cost of similar US projects."
If millions have been moved from the Odisha coast to safety over the last two days, part of the credit should go to India's satellites, the sentinels in space.
Indian remote sensing satellites in operation now:
Satellite Launch date
Saral February 25, 2013
Risat-1 April 26, 2012
Megha-Tropiques October 12, 2011
Resourcesat-2 April 20, 2011
Cartosat-2B July 12, 2010
Oceansat-2 September 23, 2009
Risat-2 April 20, 2009
Cartosat-2A April 28, 2008
Cartosat-2 January 10, 2007
Cartosat-1 May 05, 2005
Resourcesat-1 October 17, 2003
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