Images India: Rediscovering India – A Journey through Space Images

It is only when one is able to view the earth from a distance, far removed from the trappings of local circumstances, does the perspective of truth emerge.  This is the basic trust underlining all efforts of looking at earth from space.  When the Indian programme of earth observation from space was conceived over three decades ago, the hunger in the minds of those responsible for it was for the true perspective of our lands, waters, environment and resources.  There were challenges on hand to develop a nation that depended on its environment, which was not understood and imaged completely.  It was not known as to how resourceful, interactive and sustainable was our environment.  Thus, the vision before the Indian Space Programme was to build facilities that would provide a far sight on the homeland and bear a foresight on its resources and risks.  The rapid progress made by the Indian Earth Observation Programme from space has provided new images and a new vision on our common heritage.  The combined efforts of several institutions engaged in remote sensing activities have provided a cumulative strength of viewing earth from space.  India is now amongst those pioneers who have successfully used space for the peaceful purposes of inventorying monitoring and understanding the natural environment and resources. This volume presents images mostly obtained from India’s fleet of satellites in space.  It provides a far sight into the awesome diversity of India.  It provokes you to bear a foresight and responsibility towards all that we have.  Here begins a journey into the rediscovery of India, enabled through images from space.