NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Megha-Tropiques & Others

Launch Time
Wed Oct 12, 2011 05:31 UTC

Rocket

PSLV-CA
ISRO
Status: Active
Price: $21.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 4,847 kN
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 44.0 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.2 m
Fairing Height: 8.3 m

Mission Details

Megha-Tropiques

Megha-Tropiques (abbreviated MT) is a French-Indian satellite that will study the thermal energy exchanges between oceans and the atmosphere in the tropical zone to better understand their impact on climate. The satellite is expected to operate for 3 years. The data will be exploited both in India and in France.

Megha-Tropiques is a joint mission between the French (CNES) and Indian (ISRO) space agencies. The very name Megha-Tropiques is a testimony of this cooperation since Megha means "cloud" in Sanskrit, and Tropiques "tropics" in French.

The instruments embarked on the satellite are the Madras imaging radiometer, designed by Isro and CNES. It collects data on rain, water vapor, and clouds; the Saphir sounding radiometer, developed by CNES, measures the vertical profile of humidity in the atmosphere; and the Scarab broadband radiometer, also developed by CNES, will perform measurements of the Earth's radiation balance.

Thermal energy exchanges between the oceans and the atmosphere in the tropical zone have repercussions on the climate of the entire planet. However, knowledge of the interactions between the water cycle and atmospheric circulation is limited, and predictions of climate events in the tropical zone (tropical cyclones, monsoons, floods, or drought) are uncertain. The study of the energy balance in this region of the globe has become a priority in the study of climate.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 1,000.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

SRMSAT

SRMSAT is a Nanosatellite built by students at Sri Ramaswamy Memorial University(SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai) in India.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 10.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Jugnu

Jugnu is an Indian technology demonstration and remote sensing CubeSat satellite that was operated by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 3.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

VesselSat-1

VesselSat-1 was a miniaturized satellite built and owned by LuxSpace, which was operated by Orbcomm under lease. Vesselsat is the first satellite to be built in Luxembourg.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 29.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

First Launch Pad, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

Stats

2011

61st orbital launch attempt

Indian Space Research Organisation

35th mission
3rd mission of 2011
23rd successful mission
3rd consecutive successful mission

PSLV

20th mission
3rd mission of 2011
18th successful mission
16th consecutive successful mission