ISRO drops 12-year-old satellite Megha Tropiques into Pacific Ocean

Tags: Science and Technology National News

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently successfully carried out a controlled descent of its 12-year-old low earth orbit satellite Megha Tropiques-1 (MT-1) into the Pacific Ocean.

An overview of the news

• ISRO has informed that it is planning to bring this satellite back to Earth.

• Dropping this satellite on the earth was a very challenging task for ISRO, which ISRO successfully carried out.

• ISRO has been steadily reducing the distance of the satellite from Earth since August, 2022.

• For this, he was spending about 120 kg of fuel present in the satellite.

• The booster of the satellite was turned on twice before reaching the earth.

• This process is called de-boost. The satellite started burning rapidly as soon as it entered the Earth's atmosphere and was completely destroyed by the time it reached the sea.

About Megha Tropiques Satellite

• This satellite was launched in October 2011 by ISRO in collaboration with the French space agency CNES.

• The satellite was designed to provide weather information for three years, but it served for more than 10 years.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

• It was established on 15 August 1969.

• It is the national space agency of India. It launches its space rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

• Headquarters: Bengaluru

• Chairman: S Somnath