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On October 12, India will launch a satellite in order to study the tropical regions. They will use the satellite to study changes in both the climate and the atmosphere. This satellite will be in collaboration with the French space agency.

The Satellite
The 1,000 kg satellite will orbit 870 km at an inclination of 20 degrees in order to study the tropical regions. The satellite will include an imaging radiometer microwave analysis and detection of rain and atmospheric structures (MADRAS), a four channel scanner for radiation budget measurement (SCARAB), a six channel humidity sounder (SAPHIR), and GPS Radio Occultation System (GPS-ROS).
The satellite has a lifespan of five years and will cover tropical regions, such as Africa, Brazil, and the Indian Ocean. The Indian and French space agencies hope that the satellite will help them better understand the weather and climate in tropical regions. They are hoping to receive valuable information about cloud systems, water vapor, radiation budget, temperature, and humidity from the satellite.
The Launch
Space agency officials say the preparations are going well for the launch, which will take place at the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The satellite is scheduled to be launched October 12. It will take a 230 tonne core rocket to launch the satellite.
Half an hour after the satellite launches, ISTRAC, the agency’s tracking and command network, will take control of the satellite. The instruments on the satellite will become operational in the weeks after lift-off.

The Mission
India is the second nation to launch a mission like this after the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). TRMM was a joint mission between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the US National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) and was launched November 27, 1997.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is covering the cost of the launch (90 crore) as well as part of the cost of the satellite and its instruments (80 crore). The French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) is paying the rest of the satellite costs of 300 crore, which is 47 million euros.