Informatics Publishing Limited

Prakash Chauhan ¹, Prabhjot Kaur ¹, N. Srivastava ², Rishitosh K. Sinha ², Nirmala Jain ¹, S. V. S. Murty ²

Affiliations
1 Space Applications Centre, (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, IN
2 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, IN

Abstract

Space exploration missions of planetary bodies in our solar system have provided new insights to understand their formation and evolutionary processes that such bodies have undergone leading to their current geological state. Remote sensing from orbiter mission has helped in identifying surface features, delineating surface topography, mapping surface composition and deriving reliable age estimates of different planetary surfaces. In particular, high spatial and spectral resolution spacecraft observations have significantly contributed to our current understanding of the geological, physical and chemical processes that resulted in divergent evolutionary paths undertaken by different planetary objects such as inner and outer planets, dwarf planets, the moons and small solar system bodies (asteroids and comets). Hyperspectral remote sensing has been an emerging field of space-based reflectance spectroscopy and in recent years many imaging spectroscopy instruments have flown on different planetary missions, e.g. Moon Mineralogy Mapper on-board Chandrayaan-1, VIMS on Cassini mission, CRISM on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission, etc. This article provides a review on imaging reflectance spectroscopy for understanding the surface composition through mineralogy for different planetary bodies.

Keywords

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Mineralogy, Planetary Surfaces, Solar Systems.

Full Text

   

Priyom Roy ¹, Tapas R. Martha ¹, Nirmala Jain ¹, K. Vinod Kumar ¹

Affiliations
1 Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad - 500 037, IN

Abstract

On 13 August 2017, a massive landslide occurred close to the village of Kotropi (near Kotropi bus stop) in Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, India. It occurred on National Highway 154, the road between Mandi and Pathankot. Media reports suggest that a section of the slope totally collapsed and two buses of the Himachal State Transport Corporation along with few other vehicles were buried under the debris. News reports also suggest that there have been 46 fatalities from the incident. Around 300 m of the highway has been completely buried under debris, thus disrupting communication on an important route¹.

Full Text