Disaster Relief/Climate News Operators Satellite

Airbus to support France and India to monitor climate change with TRISHNA

TRISHNA will be the latest satellite in the joint Franco-Indian satellite fleet dedicated to climate monitoring and operational applications.

French Space Agency (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, CNES) has signed a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for the development and manufacture of the thermal infrared instrument for the TRISHNA (Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment) satellite.

CNES and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) are partnering on the development of an infrared observation system with high thermal resolution and high revisit capability including a satellite and associated ground segment.

In the international partnership workshare, ISRO will provide the platform, the visible and short wave infrared instrument and will be the prime contractor for the satellite, while CNES is co-responsible for the mission and will provide the thermal infrared instrument, to be developed by Airbus. The ground segment is shared between both countries.

This mission will also allow for surveillance of continental and coastal waters, follow up of urban heat traps, risk monitoring (fire detection and volcanic activity), the study of the cryosphere (glaciers, frozen lakes) and radiation budget assessment.

Commenting on the development, Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Space Systems at Airbus said: “Thanks to ambitious science missions like TRISHNA, our industry has reached a technological maturity that opens up a new era of commercial observation of the Earth and all related applications. France’s world-leading expertise in the Earth observation export market, combined with the unmatched efficiency and ambition of the Indian Space industry is going to bring thermal infrared imagery to a new level. This will enable breakthrough applications in agriculture, urban and coastal zone management, meteorology, climate science and many commercial applications.”