According to reports, The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully generated multiple levels of data products from its recently launched earth observation satellite EOS-08, and these results demonstrate immense potential for various scientific studies and applications.

On August 16, ISRO launched EOS-08 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, aboard a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) with a payload that featured newly developed satellite mainframe system technology.

Two days later, the GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) instrument on the EOS-08 satellite commenced operations on August 18. The raw data is being processed at the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC-ISRO) in Shadnagar, Hyderabad, using algorithms and data processing software developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC-ISRO), Ahmedabad.

GNSS-Reflectometry is a new mode of remote sensing: signals from Global and Regional Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS/RNSS) such as GPS and NavIC are reflected off various land surfaces such as oceans, agricultural land, and rivers.

These reflected signals are collected by precision receivers mounted on satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 475 km.

The measurement system operates without a dedicated transmitter, consumes fewer resources, and minimizes size, weight, and power. In addition, it scales up as a constellation of receivers to provide faster coverage, making this innovative remote-sensing mode extremely useful.

All the science products are generated at SAC-ISRO using in-house developed algorithms. The first land data was collected over the Sahara Desert (North Africa) using a high-resolution mode of 1 km, which is significantly better than that of contemporary CYGNSS sensors. This data was processed to retrieve soil moisture at high resolution, and the results were found to be within the expected range, according to reports.