ISRO gears up for launch of Megha-Tropiques

Chennai, Oct 7: Final preparations are on for the October 12 launch of Indo-French 'Megha-Tropiques' satellite that would study tropical climate, from spaceport of Sriharikota, about 90 km from here. Integration of Megha-Tropiques and three nano satellites, that would be launched by ISRO's workhorse PSLV-C18, with the rocket had been completed, ISRO spokesperson S Sathish said.

"PSLV C 18 is scheduled to be launched on October 12 at 11 am from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The countdown will start on Monday morning (October 10)," he told PTI.

Megha-Tropiques would carry three payloads - two by France's space agency CNES and one jointly by ISRO and CNES - and a complementary scientific instrument. ISRO has built the Megha-Tropiques spacecraft at a cost of Rs 80 crore, along with an "equal contribution" from CNES.

The satellite with a five-year life will investigate the contribution of water cycle in the tropical atmosphere to climate dynamics. The three nano satellites are one each from Luxembourg, IIT-Kanpur and SRM University, Chennai.

IIT-Kanpur has indigenously built Nano satellite 'Jugnu', which will help in gathering information regarding flood, drought and disaster management. The data received from 'Jugnu' will be studied with the help of a tracking system installed at IIT-K and the received pictures and information from it will be used for research purpose, Head of mechanical department NS Vyas, the visionary man behind the making of the nano-satellite, said in Kanpur. This would be the fourth ISRO mission this year including one launched from French Guyana.

PTI