Megha-Tropiques
Indo-French satellite studying tropical water and energy cycles.
Megha-Tropiques was a satellite mission focused on studying the water cycle in the tropical atmosphere in the context of climate change. It was a collaborative effort between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The mission aimed to understand tropical meteorological and climatic processes by obtaining reliable statistics on the water and energy budget of the tropical atmosphere.
Quick Facts
- Auto
- all
- Mission type
- Weather
- Operator
- ISRO/CNES
- Mission duration
- Planned: 3 years; Final: 10 years, 5 months
- Manufacturer
- ISRO
- Launch mass
- 1,000 kg / 2,205 lb
- Power
- 1325 W
- Launched
- 12 October 2011
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The mission was initially scrapped in 2003 but revived in 2004 after India increased its contribution and overall costs were lowered.
- The ScaRaB instrument had previously been launched twice on Russian satellites.
- The satellite carried the 28.7 kg VesselSat-1 of Luxembourg to locate ships on high seas.
Launch
The satellite was launched on October 12, 2011, at 11:00 am from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18). It was placed into an 867 km orbit with an inclination of 20 degrees to the equator, along with three micro satellites: SRMSAT, Jugnu, and VesselSat-1.
End of mission
The original mission life of three years was extended by two years on May 26, 2015, and further by four years on October 7, 2016. In April 2022, ISRO announced the end of mission due to issues with the attitude control sub-system. Starting in August 2022, the orbit was lowered from 870 km to 300 km, and on March 7, 2023, the satellite was successfully deorbited after two final de-boost burns.
More in Satellite Meteorology
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced