India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C18) successfully launched the Indo-French MEGHA-TROPIQUES Satellite on October 12, 2011. This has been the nineteenth successive successful flight of PSLV.
Three co-passenger Satellites (a) JUGNU from IIT, Kanpur (b) SRMSat from SRM University, Chennai and (c) VesselSat-1 from Luxembourg were also launched by PSLV-C18. The user institutions also have confirmed establishing contact with the satellites.
MEGHA-TROPIQUES Satellite, a joint endeavour of ISRO and the French National Space Agency (CNES), is intended to study the water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropical region covering 20 deg on either side of the Equator.
The first originality of MEGHA-TROPIQUES is to associate three radiometric instruments allowing to observe simultaneously three interrelated components of the atmospheric engine : water vapour, condensed water (clouds and precipitations), and radiative fluxes. The second is to privilege the sampling of the intertropical zone, accounting for the large time-space variability of the tropical phenomena. Moreover, the MEGHA-TROPIQUES microwave radiometer MADRAS could be one element complementing the constellation of mini-satellites of the Global Precipitation Mission .
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