‘Indo-French satellite set for launch in 12-16 months’, Pg14

Key Highlights:

• The Indo-French satellite TRISHNA is scheduled for launch within the next 12-16 months.
• TRISHNA stands for Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment.
• This mission is a joint venture between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French space agency CNES.
• It marks the third collaborative satellite project between India and France, following Megha-Tropiques and SARAL.

Indo-French Satellite.jpg

Detailed Insights:

• The TRISHNA mission has been under conceptualization and formalization for approximately a decade and is now entering its realization stage.
• TRISHNA aims to provide high spatial and temporal resolution monitoring of Earth's surface temperature, emissivity, and biophysical variables for surface energy budgeting.
• Its primary objectives include detailed monitoring of the energy and water budgets of the continental biosphere to quantify terrestrial water stress and water use.
• Secondary objectives of TRISHNA include assessing urban heat islands, detecting thermal anomalies, and monitoring snow-melt runoff and glacier dynamics.
• Megha-Tropiques, launched in 2011, was a joint ISRO-CNES mission focused on studying the water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropical atmosphere.
• SARAL (Satellite with ARGOS and ALTIKA), launched in 2013, was another ISRO-CNES collaboration for oceanographic studies, particularly sea surface height and ocean circulation.
• The U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), a key facility of ISRO, is responsible for the design, development, and integration of satellites.
• India and France have a long-standing space cooperation spanning over six decades, beginning with sounding rocket facilities in the 1960s.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Thermal Infra-Red Imaging: A technology used to detect radiation in the thermal infrared spectrum, allowing for temperature measurement of Earth's surface.
• Natural Resource Assessment: The process of evaluating the quantity, quality, and distribution of natural resources, often using satellite imagery.
• Evapotranspiration: The sum of water evaporation from the Earth's surface and transpiration from plants, crucial for water cycle studies.