Successful launch of the French-Indian Megha-Tropiques satellite October 12, 2011

On October 12, 2011, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched the Megha-Tropiques satellite on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket from the Sriharikota launch base. The Megha-Tropiques is a joint project between the ISRO and the French government space agency CNES.

Megha-Tropiques is the first satellite dedicated to advancing our understanding of the water cycle contribution to the climate dynamics in the tropical atmosphere. It is equipped with 4 instruments: MADRAS (CNES and ISRO), to track the distribution and dynamics of rain and clouds; SAPHIR (CNES), to produce humidity profiles; ScaRaB (CNES), which will measure energy fluxes; and ROSA, which will supply humidity and temperature profiles.

The ICARE Data and Services Center is responsible for data processing and distribution of the derived science products to the French research community, while IPSL is responsible for the science product algorithms.