monitoring, effective use of ground-water prospects maps, and varieties of governance
applications.
The Disaster Management Support (DMS) Programme of ISRO is continuing to provide
space based inputs for the effective management of disasters in the country. The Decision
Support Centre (DMSDSC), established at National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), is engaged
in monitoring of natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, landslides, forest fires, etc. During
2017, India witnessed major floods during June to September affecting more than 104 districts in
8 states, namely, Assam, Gujarat, Manipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and
West Bengal. All the major flood affected states were monitored using satellite data and about
100 maps were disseminated to the concerned states/departments.
During the fire season (February to June), daily near real time fire alerts were provided
using satellite data. These inputs were provided in less than 30 minutes from the completion of
satellite overpass. The activity was carried out in collaboration with the Forest Survey of India
(FSI), covering the entire nation. During 2017, active fire locations information for about 32,546
forest fires were generated and made available to the respective forest departments of the states
and FSI. A massive landslide occurred on National Highway, NH 154 (the road between Mandi
and Pathankot) near the village of Kotropi, Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh in 2017. The event
was monitored using Resourcesat-2 and Cartosat-2 data. Rainfall as the causative factor for the
occurrence of such landslides was recognised.
National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM) continued to provide disaster
related inputs for states/UTs with multi-scale geo-spatial database. In addition to these daily data,
alerts/warnings from forecasting agencies were also provided as part of NDEM dashboad. IRSO
is a signatory of the International Charter for ‘Space and Major Disasters’, which aims at
providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to users affected by disasters.
Towards this, ISRO supports the charter and Sentinel Asia by planning satellite data acquisition
from various Indian Remote Sensing Satellites and providing the same within a stipulated time
period. In 2017, ISRO supported 29 disasters across 22 counties by providing around 140 sets of
IRS data.
Space Science and Planetary Research
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), which is India’s first inter-planetary spacecraft mission, has
successfully completed three years in its orbit around Mars and still continues to provide vital
information on regular basis. The health parameters of spacecraft are normal. Scientific analysis
of the data being received from the spacecraft is being done on various aspects of the planet.
During the year, an orbit maneuver was also successfully performed on the spacecraft, which
removed the danger of long period eclipse till 2021.
AstroSat, India’s first multi-wavelength observatory, completed two years in orbit. The
satellite is now being operated as an ‘Observatory’, in which observational time is allocated
based on the proposals received from interested researchers and scientists in the country, through
IRSO’s Announcement of Opportunity (AO).
Capacity Building
The achievements of Indian space programme have been primarily due to the well-
established mechanisms of taking up a task and achieving the same with commitment and
dedication with professionalism. Recognising the importance of nurturing such unique talents