India and France are working on building the
third Indo-French satellite designed for
climate change studies, a senior French official said on Thursday. "We
are preparing the third Indo-third French satellite. We have already launched
one (Megha-Tropiques) in 2011 and the
second (SARAL-AltiKa) in 2013," Counsellor (Space), Embassy of France
in India, Mathieu J Weiss, told a news agency after French Ambassador to India
Francois Richier and his delegation met ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan in
Bangalore. The new satellite being built
jointly by Indian Space Research Organisation and National Centre for Space
Studies (CNES) of France would be a state-of-the-art satellite for earth
observation for climate change, Weiss
said.
Scientists from both countries have been
deliberating on the structure of the satellite for more than one year, the
French official said. The final shape to
the proposed project is scheduled to be given by next March when Indian and
French scientists will hold a "big" meeting in France, Weiss said.
The satellite is expected to give France and
India a complete spectrum of data which could be shared with already existing
Indian satellites and French satellite like SPOT-7 which will be launched on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket this
year, Weiss said. "India is the
one of the most important countries of cooperation for France. Both countries
have plenty of things to do together," he added.