ISRO on Monday said its meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS has initiated earth imaging operations, and released the first set of images captured by the on-board payloads (6-channel Imager and 19-channel Sounder).

The Imager and Sounder payloads are similar to the ones flown on INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR, but significant improvements have been achieved in radiometric accuracy, black body calibration, thermal management, and imaging throughput, among others.

The payloads were designed and developed at the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad. The first images are processed and released at the Master Control Facility, Hassan in Karnataka.