India, France to go ahead with satellite development

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French National Space Centre (CNES) signed an MoU today to proceed with the joint atmospheric satellite mission, Megha-Tropiques.

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and CNES president Yannick d'Escatha inked the pact at Antariksh Bhavan here, the headquarters of ISRO.

The MoU outlines the arrangements for the development of the satellite, its launch, its operations in orbit and utilisation of the scientific data obtained from the satellite.

Megha-Tropiques (Megha meaning cloud in Sanskrit and Tropiques meaning tropics in French) is meant for investigating the contribution of the water cycle in the tropical atmosphere to climate dynamics.

ISRO would build the spacecraft, which would be similar to the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites. ISRO will also launch the satellite using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The launch is planned by 2008-09.

The satellite would be placed in 867 km-high orbit at an inclination of 20 degrees with respect to the equatorial plane, ISRO said.