ISRO-CNES Megha-Tropiques Mission
- Paper number
IAC-08.B1.2.2
- Author
Dr. Raju Garudachar, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO),ISAC, India
- Coauthor
Mrs. KAROUCHE NADIA, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France
- Year
2008
- Abstract
MEGHA-TROPIQUES is a joint ISRO-CNES satellite mission on climate and atmospheric applications and research. It is a unique mission consisting of four high-technology payloads providing very useful tropical atmospheric data from a single platform with high repetitivity of observations. The satellite will be launched into an inclined orbit of 20 degrees to an altitude of 866 km to achieve a high temporal sampling. The main objective of the MEGHA-TROPIQUES mission is to study the convective systems that influence the tropical weather and climate. Any change in the energy and water budget of the Land-Ocean-Atmosphere system in the tropics has an influence on global climate. Studies on these aspects are therefore of immense global interest currently. The satellite will be developed and integrated on the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite platform provided by ISRO. The payloads are: •MADRAS (Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures) - A five-frequency, nine-channel microwave-imaging radiometer operating at 18.7, 23.8, 36.5, 89 and 157 GHz, to be developed jointly by ISRO and CNES. While CNES will provide the MADRAS RF Front End (MARFEQ), ISRO will develop the backend electronics, MADRAS scan mechanism and hold-down & release mechanism. • SAPHIR - A microwave humidity sounder operating in 6 channels at 183.31 GHz to be provided by CNES • SCARAB - A four-channel scanner for measurement of Earth’s radiation budget to be provided by CNES. • GPS-Radio Occultation System (GPS-ROS), procured by ISRO. The first three payloads are integrated in a payload instruments module (PIM) developed by ISRO. The bus implementation is based on the extensive heritage derived in the various past ISRO missions and also the satellite projects currently in progress. Thus the basic philosophy of implementation takes into account the already-available designs for subsystems wherever possible and also going for new developments wherever necessary. The satellite will be launched by ISRO’s PSLV launch vehicle. The satellite control and science data reception are from ISTRAC, Bangalore. The data products are developed by ISRO with CNES support. The data will be shared between India and France and also provided to other agencies based on a data policy. The launch is slated for the second half of 2009.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.B1.2.2.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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