NEW DELHI: A decommissioned Indo-French weather satellite, Megha-Tropiques-1 (MT-1), was safely disintegrated in the Earth’s atmosphere after the controlled re-entry operation that was successfully carried out on March 7.
The weather satellite was launched on October 12, 2011, as a collaborative effort between Isro and French space agency CNES for carrying out tropical weather and climate studies. “The satellite has continued to provide valuable data services for more than a decade, supporting regional and global climate models till 2021,” Isro said in a statement.
Isro crashed the satellite as part of its commitment to the United Nations Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee following the end of the mission life.
Since August 2022, the satellite’s perigee was progressively lowered through a series of 20 manoeuvres, spending about 120 kg of fuel. Multiple manoeuvres, including the final de-boost strategy, were designed after taking into consideration several constraints, including visibility of the re-entry trace over ground stations, ground impact within the targeted zone and allowable operating conditions of subsystems, especially the maximum deliverable thrust and the maximum firing duration constraint on thrusters, Isro said.
From the latest telemetry, it is confirmed that the satellite has re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and would have disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean, the final impact region estimated is in the deep Pacific Ocean within the expected latitude & longitude boundaries.
The entire sequence of events was carried out from the Mission Operations Complex in Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network.
The weather satellite was launched on October 12, 2011, as a collaborative effort between Isro and French space agency CNES for carrying out tropical weather and climate studies. “The satellite has continued to provide valuable data services for more than a decade, supporting regional and global climate models till 2021,” Isro said in a statement.
Isro crashed the satellite as part of its commitment to the United Nations Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee following the end of the mission life.
Since August 2022, the satellite’s perigee was progressively lowered through a series of 20 manoeuvres, spending about 120 kg of fuel. Multiple manoeuvres, including the final de-boost strategy, were designed after taking into consideration several constraints, including visibility of the re-entry trace over ground stations, ground impact within the targeted zone and allowable operating conditions of subsystems, especially the maximum deliverable thrust and the maximum firing duration constraint on thrusters, Isro said.
From the latest telemetry, it is confirmed that the satellite has re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and would have disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean, the final impact region estimated is in the deep Pacific Ocean within the expected latitude & longitude boundaries.
The entire sequence of events was carried out from the Mission Operations Complex in Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network.
