The satellite is equipped with a 160 × 4 Mbit/s data handling system, 50 Newton-metre-second reaction wheels, and a phased array antenna with dual polarisation.

The satellite was used for natural resources management, primarily agriculture planning and forestry surveys, as well as to predict and prevent flooding.

It was used for monitoring paddy plantations and yields in the kharif season and to assist India's food security planning.

Pictures from RISAT-1 was used to estimate the number of hectares being farmed in India, to assess crop health and predict total yield.

[3][18] On 26 July 2017, Department of Space released names of its operational satellites in a reply to a Parliamentary query and RISAT-1 was not included in the list.