This is one of the best satellites having highest spatial resolution of 5.8 m in Panchromatic and 23.5 m in multispectral.
| Parameters | Specifications (PAN) |
| Band (microns) | 0.50 - 0.75 |
| Resolution (m) | 5.8 |
| Effective focal lenght | 980 mm |
| Coding | 6 bits (64 grey levels) | Camera SWR | 0.2 |
| SNR (at saturation radiance) | >64 |
| Data rate (MBPS) | 84.903 |
|
Swath (km.) 1. Nadir 1. Off-nadir |
70 91 |
| Off-nadir viewing (deg) | +/-26 for obtaining stereoscopic data and 5 day revisit |
| Steering step size (deg) | 0.09 |
The data in the panchromatic region is useful in geological
studies for mapping geological and geomorphological features.
Higher spatial resolution will be useful for urban planning
studies, detecting urban fringe growth, updating the urban
transporation infrastructure etc. It is having off-nadir viewing
capability and the view angle can be varied between +/- 26 deg.
The advantages of off-nadir viewing are increased repetivity
coverage and stereoscopy. Stereoscopic image pair obtainable by
PAN can be used for topographic studies and generation of digital
terrain models.
| Parameters | B2 B3 B4 | B5 |
| Spectral bands | 0.52-0.59(green) 0.62-0.68(red) 0.77-0.86(NIR) | 1.55-1.70 (MID) |
| Resolution (m) | 23.5 (for bands B2,B3,B4) | 70.5 (for b5) |
| CCD devices | 6000 elements | 2100 |
| Swath (Kms) | 141 | 148 |
| Equi focal length (mm) | 347.5 | 301.2 |
| Number of grey levels | 128 (7 bits) | 128 |
The bands are similar to the IRS-1A, IRS-1B and IRS-P2 except blue band which is not included in IRS-1C.
Band 2 is centered around the first peak of the vegetation reflectance curve (refer to reflectance curves in standard books) and is useful for discrimination of vegetation. This band along with red and near IR regions forms the core data useful for discrimination of vegetation.
Band 3 is centered around the chlorophyll absorption region of vegetation. Strong correlation exists between spectral reflectance in this region and chlorophyll content. A reduction in the amount of chlorophyll can occur when the plant is stressed. This results in less chlorophyll absorption and an increase in red reflectance. This band along with the near IR band is used widely for deriving spectral indices like ratio and Normalised Difference Vegetation index (NDVI) which have been found to be very good indicators of crop vigour and biomass.
Band 4: The high reflectance plateau region of the vegetation reflectance is in this band. Plant reflectance in this region is highly governed by the internal structure of plant leaves. This band shows high reflectance for healthy vegetation and is useful for green biomass estimation and crop vigor.
Band 5: the middle infra-red region from 1.3-2.5 microns is
sensitive to leaf water content. It has been shown that 1.55 - 1.70
is best suited in 0.7-2.5 region for monitoring plant canopy
water status. Major applications of this band include discrimination
of crop types, canopy water status, forest type separation
and damage assessment. Crop classification accuracies can be
improved by 1-15% when this band is included with other bands.
Also useful snow-cloud discrimination. In geology, it will be
useful for rock type discrimination.
| Parameters | Values |
| Spectral bands (microns) |
B3 - 0.62-0.68 (red) B4 - 0.77-0.86 (near IR) |
| Resolution (m) | 188 |
| CCD devices | 2048 elements |
| Swath (Kms) | 810 (5 days repetivity) |
| Equivalent focal length (mm) | 56.4 |
| No. of grey levels | 128 (7 bits) |
| SNR | >128 |
This sensor is most useful for vegetation studies. With larger swath (770 Km), high repetivity ( 5 days) and operation in two vegetation specific bands, the sensor provide vegetation index at regional level, thus helping in assessment of crop condition and drought monitoring.