Identify the incorrect match of satellite type and application:

Correct — C. The stem asks for the incorrect match.

A navigation satellite broadcasts precise timing signals from which a receiver works out its position, velocity and time. That is what GPS and India's NavIC do.

Forest fire monitoring needs sensors that watch the ground and pick up a fire's heat and smoke, the work of remote sensing satellites. Navigation and forest fires are mismatched → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Weather satellite - Cyclone tracking — This match is correct. Weather satellites such as India's INSAT-3D series watch clouds from geostationary orbit, which is how cyclones are tracked, so it is not the incorrect pair.
• (b)
  Communication satellite - TV broadcast — This match is correct. Communication satellites relay television, DTH and telephone signals, as India's GSAT series does, so it is not the incorrect pair.
• (d)
  Remote sensing satellite - Land use mapping — This match is correct. Remote sensing satellites such as India's Resourcesat series image the land surface, and land use mapping is one of their core uses.

Satellites are grouped by job, and the job decides the instruments and the orbit.

Communication satellites relay signals, many from geostationary orbit. Weather satellites watch clouds and storms.

Remote sensing satellites image land and oceans, many from Sun-synchronous orbit. Navigation satellites broadcast timing signals for positioning.

Key facts

• Navigation satellites provide position, velocity and timing services to receivers.
• NavIC, also called IRNSS, is ISRO's regional navigation system covering India and about 1,500 km around it.
• Remote sensing satellites image the Earth's surface for uses such as land use mapping and forest fire detection.
• Communication satellites relay television and telephone signals.

Common traps

• Reading 'Identify the incorrect match' as 'identify the correct match' and picking a true pair.
• Linking forest fires with navigation because GPS guides fire crews: detecting the fire is a remote-sensing job.

No directly related past PYQ was found.